14 March 2024 , 08:48
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Donald Trump has claimed that he took classified documents from the White House "very legally", adding that he "wasn't hiding them" in a bombshell interview.
The disgraced former President faces 40 felony counts in Florida that accuse him of willfully retaining dozens of classified documents and rebuffing government demands to give them back after he left the White House. The records included top-secret information and documents related to nuclear programs and the military capabilities of the US and foreign adversaries, according to prosecutors.
In court filings, prosecutors have argued that "there has never been a case in American history in which a former official has engaged in conduct remotely similar to Trump’s." Trump asserted that he took the documents "very legally" and "wasn't hiding anything" and blamed the "corrupt" FBI for raiding his estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in August 2022 despite his cooperation.
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Trump is accused of having staff delete surveillance footage that would show boxes being moved around (US Courts)In an interview last night, he told Newsmax: "I was dealing with them. We were dealing fine. And then all of a sudden they raided this house. They raided Mar-a-Lago."
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He then turned his attention to US President Joe Biden, saying: "There’s something going on because they’re going after me viciously. Then all of a sudden it comes out that Biden took 10 times the number of documents that I did."
Among other incidents, prosecutors allege that Trump intentionally held onto some of the nation’s most sensitive documents — only returning a fraction of them upon demand by the National Archives — and then urged his lawyer to hide records and to lie to the FBI by saying he no longer was in possession of them. He’s also charged with enlisting staff to delete surveillance footage that would show boxes of documents being moved around the property.
Trump's lawyers have said that he designated the records he took with him to Mar-a-Lago as personal property and are seeking dismissal of the case based on the Presidential Records Act. Special counsel Jack Smith's team, by contrast, says the files Trump is charged with possessing are presidential records, not personal ones, and that the statute does not apply to classified and top-secret documents like those kept at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
'There’s something going on because they’re going after me viciously,' he said (AFP via Getty Images)For all the latest news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US
The Presidential Records Act "does not exempt Trump from the criminal law, entitle him to unilaterally declare highly classified presidential records to be personal records, or shield him from criminal investigations — let alone allow him to obstruct a federal investigation with impunity,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing last week.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, will hear arguments on Thursday on whether the case should be dismissed. It is not clear when a decision would be made.
In the interview, Trump said Jack smith Smith is a "total animal" and a "deranged individual." He added of Smith: "He was told to do a number on me because they think that's the way Biden gets elected."
And Trump went on: "This has never happened in this country before. If I was going to fight it in a nice way, I don't think I'd be successful. [...] If I didn't fight tough, if I didn't fight nasty and do it the way that I have to do it, I wouldn't be interviewed right now. No, I have to do it strong.
"These people, many of them, you know, they make up false stories like Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. That was a hoax. That was a long - it took me two years to get rid of that thing."