Former President Trump defended his alleged retention of classified national defense documents during an interview this week, saying that “every good lawyer” agrees with his assertion that he did nothing wrong.
Trump made the remarks during a Fox News interview that aired on Monday evening with anchor Bret Baier.
“The only way NARA could ever get this stuff, this back would be [to say], ‘Please, please, please could we have it back,’” Trump said.
When asked by Baier why he did not just give everything back, which could have prevented his facing any criminal charges, Trump responded, “Because I had boxes.”
“I want to go through the boxes and get my personal things out,” he said. “I don’t want to hand that over to NARA yet. And I was very busy as you’ve sort of seen.”
Trump later brought up that his vice president, Mike Pence, also had classified documents, though Baier noted Pence immediately turned them over to authorities.
“No, he didn’t turn them over. He got caught,” Trump claimed. “His lawyers found some documents and then he turned them over. Why did he have them? He shouldn’t be saying that, because he had classified documents. And immediately they said, ‘Oh, that’s OK.’ And I suppose it’s going to be OK with Biden, too, even though he has them in Chinatown? Even though he has them in Delaware and probably 100 times more than I have?”
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When Baier asked Trump if he was worried about the 37 federal charges he faces, Trump responded: “Based on the law? Zero. Zero.”
“Presidential Records Act plus the Clinton case — the Clinton case which was won by Clinton as president because he took tapes of leaders in his socks. Zero,” Trump responded. “Zero. And every good lawyer has said it, and you have seen that. Every good lawyer has said that.”
When Baier noted that there are many experts who have pushed backed on Trump’s analysis of the situation, Trump responded: “This was a weaponization of politics. This was a weaponization of the White House. This was a horrible thing. A candidate that’s leading. I’m leading Biden by a lot. They go out and they weaponize. There is a horrible thing that was done.”