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As someone who has held a security clearance with the U.S. Federal government and has handled classified material as part of my official duties, I am reasonably confident in stating that the presence of golf shirts in a container holding classified documents is not sufficient to declassify said documents.
I've never held security clearance, but I'm reasonably certain that "I was too busy to give you back those classified documents" isn't a very good defense. In fact, it's admitting that you had the classified documents and held onto them despite being told to give them back. It's especially not a good defense given that he had 15 months from the first "give back the documents request" to the FBI raid.
If I ever found myself in possession of classified documents which I wasn't supposed to have (so, any classified documents) and I was asked to give them back, I'd MAKE time. I'd take time off of work and scour my house from the top to the bottom to make sure I got everything. Then, I'd invite the FBI in to do the same to be sure that I didn't miss anything.
This would be the biggest priority in my life (absent any live threatening situations) until those classified documents were safely returned. "I was too busy for the past 1.25 years" is not a good defense at all.
“And they asked for it, they did ask for it,” Baier noted. “And then they went to DOJ to subpoena you. Why not just hand them over then?”
“Because I had boxes,” Trump said. “I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to NARA yet. And I was very busy as you’ve sort of seen.”
He went on to address claims in the indictment that he told an aide to move the boxes to other locations after telling lawyers to say he had fully complied: “Before I send the boxes over, I have to take all of my things out.”
“These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things,” Trump said. “Golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes.”
Reality truly is stranger than fiction.
And, just to remind everyone, there were 4 months from when Trump left office to when NARA asked for everything back. Then, there were 15 months from when NARA asked for everything back and when the FBI came in to seize the documents.
Even at the most generous timeline (which Trump definitely doesn't deserve), he had 15 months from when NARA told him to give back the documents. Trump being "too busy" for this long isn't an excuse.
And this ignores that he had his lawyer declare that they didn't have any documents there only to be proven wrong by the FBI.
Trump's lawyers should definitely tell him to keep quiet (not that he'll listen) because every interview he gives about this is going to be entered into the mountain of evidence that the government has against him.
But... his golf shirts! Doesn't everyone store their clothing in boxes of classified documents? I mean, where else could they possibly go?
(I wonder what version of this story he'll tell in court, I'm sure it'll be fun to hear about.)
He'll tell every version if he gets on the stand. And you know he wants to go on the stand, and his lawyers are telling him not a chance in hell.
i enjoyed that movie
I’m not sure who the bigger clowns are here: Trump or the people who still support him
Why not both? The GOP is basically a circus at this point lmao
Anybody who still supports Trump is a traitor to our country.
Let's not forget that no matter what happens with this trial the US military has to regard the plans as being compromise. Whatever plan they had is the best plan they had which offered the best chances of success with the lowest losses of American lives. They now have to assume that Iran has those plans and is actively working on how to defend against precisely that. Therefore the US military would have to go in with a lesser plan that will possibly not be as successful and possibly cause higher losses.
The prosecutors have got to be positively giddy with all his admissions at this point.
Legal eagle basically said prosecution hinted to a ton of directly incriminating evidence at the indictment. The sentencing will be fireworks and rainbows and you should definitely buy some booze when it happens. And yes I'm saying when, not if.
I'll believe it when I see it. There seems to be countless sources confirming egregious tax fraud (and every other crime under the sun), yet nothing ever comes of it. I read that Hunter Biden plead guilty to tax fraud this week, so it's not impossible for the IRS to catch up with well connected people. Yet Cheeto has been getting away with it for decades.
I'll still keep some bubbly in the fridge on the off chance that something finally catches up to the orange sweat stain.
Next thing you know, he'll tell us that boxes of classified documents were mixed in with his ex-wife's body.
Woah woah woah, we can't have him telling the truth, can we?
I had to check the sauce because I thought that this is The Onion.
Reality is often stranger than fiction
I’m not sure who the bigger clowns are here: Trump or the people who still support him
Absolutely the people who support him.
What I’m concerned about, they took everything. I don’t know what they took. They could be stuffing it.
Classic Trump. “Interpret my intentions generously and interpret theirs as poorly as possible.”
I would like to think there is some level of this nonsense that even his base will not believe. I'm not all that optimistic though.
It’s so hard to keep up with this dynamic story.
But the golf shoes were declassified, though. Witchfound!