Trump was too “busy” to return classified documents, and boxes contained his clothes, he says

Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he was not returning classified documents to the National Archives because he had not had time to go through the many boxes he brought from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.

Trump was asked by Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier why he had “highly sensitive documents for the defense of national security” in his possession in a Bedminster interview that aired Monday night.

Last week, Trump appeared in federal court in Miami and pleaded not guilty to 37 charges related to his mishandling of classified material, including willfully withholding national defense information and making false statements.

He told Baier that “on the basis of the law” he had no concerns about a conviction in the case.

The ex-president said he wasn’t returning the documents just because he wanted to search the boxes and “get all my personal stuff out.”

“And I was very busy, as you saw,” Trump said. “Before I send boxes, I have to get all my stuff out. These boxes were interspersed with everything – golf shirts, clothes, pants, shoes – there was a lot of stuff.’

Baier pressed Trump whether the boxes contained a US battle plan to attack Iran, which had been mentioned in the indictment.

‘Not that I know. Not that I know of,’ the former commander-in-chief said. “But everything has been released,” he argued.

And Biden had no right to do that because he wasn’t president. Besides, Mike Pence had no right to do that, because he wasn’t president.”

Pence has already been released for the classified documents found among his belongings at his home in Indiana.

Special counsel Robert Hur is charged with investigating whether Biden committed any crimes after classified documents were found in his DC office and his home in Wilmington, Delaware from his time as vice president.

Both Pence and Biden voluntarily returned documents to the administration, while many of the charges against Trump have to do with his resistance to return them.

“No, he didn’t!” Trump claimed when Baier pointed out that the current president had given the administration his documents.

A DOJ photo that was part of the federal indictment against Trump showing boxes where classified documents were found in a bathroom in Mar-a-Lago

Baier again pressed Trump whether he possessed a secret battle plan against Iran, which he allegedly showed to a writer and publisher who were working on a book on July 21, 2021, the indictment said.

‘Finished?’ said Trump. “It wasn’t a document, okay? I had a lot of paper. I had copies of newspaper articles. I had copies of magazines.’

The indictment says investigators have a recording of that day when Trump says the document was “secret” and that “as president I could have released it,” but “now I can’t.”

“When I said I couldn’t release it now, it was because I wasn’t president. I never made a point of that,” Trump told Baier. “If I’m not president, I can’t release that.”

“Bret, there was no document. That was a huge amount of papers and everything else, about Iran and other things. And it may have held up or not, but that was not a document,” Trump continued. ‘I didn’t necessarily have a document. There was nothing to downgrade. There were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.’

Trump called those who testified to seeing a classified document “dishonest people” and “thugs.”

He was also outraged by the Mar-a-Lago raid in August, which removed the boxes.

“We were in talks with NARA to return them. Suddenly we were mugged, which is a violation of my Fourth Amendment rights,” Trump said. “They raided my house and they came and took things.”

Trump denied that any classified documents remained in his possession.

“No, I have nothing, no,” he said.

He also insisted that evidence obtained by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago may have been tampered with.

“But what worries me. They took everything, right? I don’t know what they took. They could stuff it,” Trump said. “They’ve never treated the president like that,” he complained.