Former US President Donald Trump, facing charges over his careless handling of state secrets after leaving the White House, defended himself in a Fox News interview on Sunday, saying he had been too “busy” to sort through these confidential documents. In this uncharacteristically bitter interview aired Monday night on the conservative channel, the 77-year-old former president, who will try to win back the presidency next year, said that upon his rapid departure from the White House in January 2021 , his personal effects had been mixed with government documents.
“I for one rushed them out, but people packed them up and we left. I had clothes inside, I had all kinds of personal items inside, lots of things. “I have every right to have these cards,” he asserted. When Fox News reporter Bret Baier asked him why he hadn’t just turned over the documents at the request of federal agents, Mr. Trump replied, “Because I had boxes, I wanted to rummage through those. boxes to take out all my personal belongings. I didn’t want to put them back on…yet,” he said.
“I was very busy, as you could tell,” he added. Donald Trump appeared a week ago before a federal judge in Miami to be officially notified of the 37 charges against him as part of the investigation opened after an FBI search of his Florida mansion last August.
The former Republican president is accused of endangering the security of the United States by keeping confidential documents, including military plans or information on nuclear weapons, in a bathroom or storage room of his luxury residence in Mar- a-Lago, Florida, instead of turning them over to the National Archives.
