Legal experts are suggesting that former President Donald Trump’s recent comments on his handling of classified documents during a CNN town hall interview provide potential evidence for federal prosecutors investigating whether to charge him with a crime. Trump’s lawyers previously told Congress that the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago compound got there by accident.
However, during the interview, Trump claimed that he had “every right” to take the documents from the White House and that he didn’t make a secret of it, as people were taking pictures of the boxes stationed outside the White House.
While Trump said that he didn’t recall showing secret material to others, legal experts say that disclosing classified material to people not authorized to receive it is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. When asked if he had shown classified documents to others, Trump answered, “Not really…I would have the right to,” later adding, “not that I can think of.”
John Fishwick, a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia appointed during the Obama administration, stated that “Trump’s comments hurt him, and what he said is significant.” Fishwick added that Trump’s comments not only contradict his legal position, but also show that he admits to possession and knowledge of classified documents that he took from the White House.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is running investigations into the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, will likely use Trump’s town hall comments to help build his case.
Former FBI general counsel and NBC News contributor Andrew Weissmann, who worked for special counsel Robert Mueller in the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, believes that Trump’s unwillingness to rule out showing classified documents to others “is like red meat to a prosecutor.”
In a letter to the chair of the House Intelligence Committee last month, Trump’s lawyers suggested that the classified documents were sent to Mar-a-Lago unintentionally, mixed in by accident with other records. However, during the CNN town hall interview, Trump seemed to undermine that account by saying:
“When President Trump left office, there was little time to prepare for the outgoing transition from the presidency,” said the letter from attorneys Tim Parlatore, John Rowley, James Trusty and Lindsay Halligan. “Unlike his three predecessors, each of whom had over four years to prepare for their departure upon completion of their second term, President Trump had a much shorter time to wind up his administration. White House staffers and General Service Administration (“GSA”) employees quickly packed everything into boxes and shipped them to Florida.”
“Trump asked his staff to retrieve 15 boxes that had been moved to Mar-a-Lago so he could see what was in them before they were sent to NARA in Washington, D.C.,” they wrote, referring to the National Archives and Records Administration. “However, due to other demands on his time, President Trump subsequently directed his staff to ship the boxes to NARA without any review by him or his staff.”
“I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified,” which is not true.
One of Trump’s lawyers, Tim Parlatore, pushed back against the idea that Trump’s comments were problematic, stating that they were consistent with what was in their letter to Congress. Parlatore claimed that Trump was allowed to take the documents with him because the customs that were followed for past presidents were not followed for President Trump.
Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton previously told NBC News that Trump had a habit of keeping highly classified documents given to him during intelligence briefings. Aides allegedly began blowing up maps and charts to poster size so that Trump could not pocket them.
