Trump claims FBI agents were looking for Hillary’s deleted emails when they raided Mar-a-Lago
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Donald Trump told Sean Hannity in a new interview that perhaps FBI agents searching his Mar-a-Lago home were looking for Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails — only to make it clear to his interviewer that Trump wasn’t claiming that he owned them.
Trump made the surprising remark in an interview defending the appropriateness of storing government information at his Florida club, even when documents are marked “classified.”
“You can declassify just by saying, it’s declassified. Even by thinking about it,” Trump told the executive’s broad declassification authority.
After reiterating his claim that he had released the material, Trump broke into the National Archives and Records Administration, which exchanged letters with his lawyers as the agency pursued the return of government material.
“Now I’ve released things and we had a lot of problems with NARA. You know, NARA is a radical left group of people who run that thing, and if you send documents there, I’d say there’s a very good chance a lot of those documents will never be seen again,” he said.
“Were they looking for Hillary Clinton’s e-mails that have been deleted but are somewhere nearby?” Former President Donald Trump speculated on the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago
Under the Presidential Records Act, former presidents can access material from when they were in the White House.
“There is also much speculation about what they did, the seriousness of the FBI’s arrival and the Mar-a-Lago robbery. Were they looking for Hillary Clinton’s emails that were deleted but are somewhere nearby? Or were they looking for the spying on Trump’s…” the former president continued.
He has long complained to the agency for “spying” his campaign, calling the Russia investigation that began during the 2020 campaign a “witch hunt.”
“Wait, wait, you’re not saying you had it,” Hannity intervened — making it clear that Trump wasn’t suggesting he owned the emails he’s long said were part of a conspiracy or cover-up.
“No, no, maybe they’re saying — maybe they thought it was in there,” Trump corrected.
‘You did. Okay,” Hannity replied.
Trump said FBI agents raiding Mar-a-Lago may have been looking for Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails, citing a 2016 controversy. Trump has long demanded the return of emails Clinton deleted after he had determined that they were ‘personal’. He asked Russia to help locate the emails that summer
Trump is outraged by FBI raid on his Florida club
Trump clarified when pressed that he did not own his former rival’s emails
Documents seized during the Aug. 8 search of Trump’s estate are pictured Aug. 30. DOJ did not report that they had recovered Hillary Clinton’s emails in Mar-a-Lago. But DOJ says about 100 documents labeled “classified” were found there
Trump referred to the 30,000 emails that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s team deemed personal while searching her home email server she used during her tenure.
The officers who searched his home did so under a warrant authorizing them to search for “documents and documents constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime or other items illegally possessed in violation” of three statutes relating to to the possession and handling of government documents.
Trump provided no evidence for his suggestion that the FBI agents were searching his home for emails from his campaign rivals.
The FBI under former director James Comey reviewed about 30,000 emails Clinton sent back to the State Department in 2016.
Trump famously asked Russia for help locating the deleted emails in July 2016.
“Russia, if you listen, I hope you can find the 30,000 missing emails, I think you will probably be greatly rewarded by our press,” he said.
Trump told Hannity about his classification authority: “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, it’s been released. Even by thinking about it, because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it.”
“And there doesn’t have to be a trial. There may be a process, but it doesn’t have to be. You are the president, you make that decision. So when you send it, it’s released. We—I released everything,” he said.
Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master who searches documents on the orders of another judge, asked Trump’s attorneys to provide evidence that he released the material marked as classified. A panel of three judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals cited that exchange when they decided Wednesday to lift a suspension that prevented investigators from using the classified documents as part of their investigation.
Trump also brought up Clinton as he attacked the federal judge who signed the warrant.
“He’s a Clinton person and an Obama person, and I understand that. But he hated Trump,” Trump said.
In another comment, Trump linked National Archives officials to what he calls the “Russia hoax,” while complaining that his lawyers were left out while searching his property.
“They didn’t let anyone in. And, you know, if you look at NARA and if you look at the FBI over the past 10, 15 years, and if you look at all the things that the Justice Department has taken place. If you look at what happened with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax – Sean, they were spying on my campaign, what could be worse?’ he said.