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 these confidential documents.
In this unusually harshly-toned interview aired Monday night on the conservative channel, Mr. Trump, 77, 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 personally took them out in a hurry, but people packed them up and we left. I had clothes inside, I had all kinds of personal items in them – loads of stuff” . “I have every right to have these cards,” he said.
When asked by Fox News reporter Bret Baier why he hadn’t just turned over the documents at the behest of federal agents, Mr Trump replied: “Because I had boxes, I wanted to rummage through those. boxes to get all my personal things out. I didn’t want to put them back…just yet,” he said.
“I was very busy, as you could see,” he added.
Mr. Trump appeared a week ago before a federal judge in Miami to be officially notified of the 37 charges brought 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 having endangered the security of the United States by keeping confidential documents, including military plans or information on nuclear weapons, in the toilets or storage room of his luxury residence in Mar- a-Lago, Florida, instead of turning them over to the National Archives.
20/06/2023 02:55:38 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP