Former President Donald Trump on Monday defended his retention of classified materials after leaving the White House, telling Fox News he did not have time to go through the boxes filled with the documents.
“Why not just hand them over then?” Fox anchor Bret Baier asked in Trump’s first interview since being arraigned last week on federal charges.
“Because I had boxes. I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out,” Trump responded. “I don’t want to hand that over to [the National Archives] yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen.”
Baier noted that the Justice Department’s indictment laid out how Trump allegedly told an aide to move the boxes containing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate while also telling his lawyers to indicate he was cooperating.
“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out,” Trump said from his club in Bedminster, N.J., where the interview was filmed. “These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things, golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes, there were many things.”
Asked if he was aware of Iran documents being among the items in the boxes, Trump said, “Not that I know of,” while claiming everything was declassified that he took with him.
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Former President Trump defended holding on to boxes of classified documents in an interview with Fox anchor Bret Baier.
“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out,” he said. https://t.co/7tg4ePnrEU
— The Hill (@thehill) June 20, 2023
“His answers on the matter of the law seem to verge on incoherent,” Fox News analyst Brit Hume said of Trump. https://t.co/KnrrHySYnd
— The Hill (@thehill) June 20, 2023
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