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Former US Attorney General William Barr on Sunday defended the special counsel Jack SmithThe 37-count indictment against Donald Trump on Sunday, which states that if allegations that the former president knowingly kept hundreds of top-secret documents prove true, then “he’s toast.”
Barr, who served under Trump, told Fox, “I was shocked at the sensitivity and number of these documents … and I think the charges under the Espionage Act that he knowingly kept these documents are strong charges.” Sunday News.
“Even if half of it is true, it’s toast.”
The comments by Barr, who was Trump’s attorney general from February 2019 through December 2020, are noteworthy and were made at a time when many other prominent Republicans have been reluctant to criticize the former president and current 2024 Republican frontrunner White. House race.
trump He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday to make his first appearance before the charges, which include willful retention of highly sensitive national defense records under the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, making false statements, conspiracy and concealment.
Trump told Politico on Saturday that he would continue his presidential campaign, even if he is convicted in the case, saying, “I’m never going away.”
Of the 37 charges against Trump, 31 relate to classified and top secret documents he kept after he left the White House in early 2021.
The indictment alleges that Trump stored the documents haphazardly at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, refused to return them to the government, and tried to hide them from the FBI and even from his attorneys after a grand jury issued a verdict on him. A subpoena requiring him to turn over all records marked confidential.
His attorney, Alina Habba, who is not representing him in the case, told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump is innocent of the charges and plans to vigorously defend himself in the case.
In the past, Barr has been a fierce defender of Trump, going so far as to appoint his own counsel to investigate whether the FBI improperly opened an investigation into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign for possible ties to Russia based on flimsy evidence.
But toward the end of his term, Barr’s views of Trump soured after the former president tried to pressure the Justice Department into launching bogus investigations into voter fraud, in a failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
not “personal documents”
Trump has previously defended his retention of the classified records, claiming without evidence that he declassified them while in office — a defense that has also been repeated by his allies.
“I agree with what the president said he does,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday when asked if he had any evidence to support Trump’s allegations.
In an earlier lawsuit involving the FBI’s search of his Florida home, Trump’s attorneys repeatedly refused to make that argument in court filings. The indictment also contains evidence that Trump knew he kept records that were kept top secret.
“As president, I could have declassified it,” Trump said of a military document he was alleged to have shown during a meeting at a golf club in New Jersey in July of 2021. It’s still a secret.”
Trump and his allies have also separately tried to argue that the records at the heart of the case are inherently personal and covered by the Presidential Records Act.
“He has every right to have access to classified documents declassified under the Presidential Records Act,” he told Fox News Sunday.
But Barr said the claim that the documents were Trump’s personal records was “on the face of it absurd.”
He said the records referred to in the indictment are “official records” made by government intelligence agencies, and therefore the property of the US government.
“Battle plans for an attack on another country or DoD documents about our capabilities are nowhere in Donald J. Trump’s personal documents,” he said.
Barr, who served under Trump, told Fox, “I was shocked at the sensitivity and number of these documents … and I think the charges under the Espionage Act that he knowingly kept these documents are strong charges.” Sunday News.
“Even if half of it is true, it’s toast.”
The comments by Barr, who was Trump’s attorney general from February 2019 through December 2020, are noteworthy and were made at a time when many other prominent Republicans have been reluctant to criticize the former president and current 2024 Republican frontrunner White. House race.
trump He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday to make his first appearance before the charges, which include willful retention of highly sensitive national defense records under the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, making false statements, conspiracy and concealment.
Trump told Politico on Saturday that he would continue his presidential campaign, even if he is convicted in the case, saying, “I’m never going away.”
Of the 37 charges against Trump, 31 relate to classified and top secret documents he kept after he left the White House in early 2021.
The indictment alleges that Trump stored the documents haphazardly at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, refused to return them to the government, and tried to hide them from the FBI and even from his attorneys after a grand jury issued a verdict on him. A subpoena requiring him to turn over all records marked confidential.
His attorney, Alina Habba, who is not representing him in the case, told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump is innocent of the charges and plans to vigorously defend himself in the case.
In the past, Barr has been a fierce defender of Trump, going so far as to appoint his own counsel to investigate whether the FBI improperly opened an investigation into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign for possible ties to Russia based on flimsy evidence.
But toward the end of his term, Barr’s views of Trump soured after the former president tried to pressure the Justice Department into launching bogus investigations into voter fraud, in a failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
not “personal documents”
Trump has previously defended his retention of the classified records, claiming without evidence that he declassified them while in office — a defense that has also been repeated by his allies.
“I agree with what the president said he does,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday when asked if he had any evidence to support Trump’s allegations.
In an earlier lawsuit involving the FBI’s search of his Florida home, Trump’s attorneys repeatedly refused to make that argument in court filings. The indictment also contains evidence that Trump knew he kept records that were kept top secret.
“As president, I could have declassified it,” Trump said of a military document he was alleged to have shown during a meeting at a golf club in New Jersey in July of 2021. It’s still a secret.”
Trump and his allies have also separately tried to argue that the records at the heart of the case are inherently personal and covered by the Presidential Records Act.
“He has every right to have access to classified documents declassified under the Presidential Records Act,” he told Fox News Sunday.
But Barr said the claim that the documents were Trump’s personal records was “on the face of it absurd.”
He said the records referred to in the indictment are “official records” made by government intelligence agencies, and therefore the property of the US government.
“Battle plans for an attack on another country or DoD documents about our capabilities are nowhere in Donald J. Trump’s personal documents,” he said.
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