Earlier this month, former United States President Donald Trump was officially indicted on 37 different counts after a Department of Justice investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Following those charges, the former president joined Fox News to defend himself, and he had a pretty shocking excuse for what he claimed happened.
During an interview with Brett Baier of Fox News, Donald Trump was asked why he didn’t simply hand over the classified documents when he was told to do so by the Department of Justice. Trump had a pretty surprising response, telling Baier that it was because the classified documents were in boxes mixed with his golf stuff.
“I had boxes. I wanted to go through the boxes and get my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to NARA yet,” Trump said. “And I was very busy as you’ve sort of seen.”
Baier: Why not just hand them over? Trump: Because I had boxes, I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things pic.twitter.com/PwW85wlTzH
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 19, 2023
“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out. These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things – golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes. There were many things,” Trump said.
It’s a pretty horrible excuse for failing to turn over classified documents, and people had plenty to say about it.
Donald Trump admits nuclear and military documents were interspersed with “golf shirts, clothing, [and] pants.” pic.twitter.com/SYZdoSv1pB
— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) June 20, 2023
Trump says he refused to hand over classified documents to the federal government because he had “golf shirts, clothing, pants, and shoes” mixed in with nuclear documents. (@acyn) pic.twitter.com/CIU4a53yNh
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) June 19, 2023
You guys noticing this shift? Nothing is organic in right wing media. The long knives are out. The GOP donor class wants DeSantis.
Bill Barr, John Bolton, just a couple Fox News personalities first, elected officials will start peeling off next. They know he's unelectable. https://t.co/PiRArKnUa6
— Devin Nunes’ Alt-Mom (@NunesAlt) June 20, 2023
Let's take him at his word. This billionaire admits to caring more about his "golf shirts," "pants," and "shoes" than about the lives of soldiers, intelligence officers, and everyday Americans he swore to protect. https://t.co/2LPzEf35Iv
— Vernam Cipher (@Vernam) June 20, 2023
Watch that clip here: he literally says he wanted to "go through" the boxes and "didn't want to hand" the documents over to NARA. This man literally can't keep his mouth shut. No wonder no lawyer wants to represent him. https://t.co/6XSYyceat9
— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) June 19, 2023
Isn't Trump a billionaire? Doesn't he have assistants who can help him to unpack? https://t.co/HMTcTw3cuc
— Nathan (@Gig4Nathan) June 20, 2023
(1) Seems important that likely Republican nominee is insane (also: corrupt, authoritarian, incompetent) (2) Mediocre interview, with basic journalistic standards, is being heavily praised because it shines in contrast to our complicit access journalism mainstream media cc/ @CNN https://t.co/KWk6Oo7Tsg
— David Rothschild 🌻 (@DavMicRot) June 20, 2023
It’s certainly an interesting defense from the former president. We’ll have to see if it holds up in court.
[Acyn]
