Former Trump administration official John Bolton says he thinks that former president Donald Trump likely kept documents because he thought they were “cool” or might be a “souvenir” from his presidency.
Mr Bolton, who worked as Mr Trump’s national security adviser, told CNN that Mr Trump did not think about the sensitivity of the documents, The Daily Mail reported.
“And so I think a lot of these documents, he may have just thought were cool, a lot of them he thought might be souvenirs. A lot of them he thought might be useful to him later. I can't answer the question until iI see the document,” he said.
Mr Bolton said he did not know which documents Mr Trump took but he was familiar with which types of documents were placed before the former president.
“And they did go to absolute, the most important secrets that the United States has directly affecting national security directly affecting the lives that lives and safety of our service members and our civilian population,” he said.
Mr Bolton said the indictment could spell trouble for Mr Trump.
“If he has anything like what the complaint what the indictment alleges, and of course, the government will have to prove it, then he has committed very serious crimes.”
Mr Bolton had read the indictment as someone who had served in the Justice Department earlier in his career and said the charges were serious.
“Because not only is it powerful, it's very narrowly tailored,” he said. “They didn't throw everything up against the wall to see what would stick. This really is a rifle shot. And I think it should be the end of Donald Trump's political career.”
Mr Trump announced that he was indicted on Thursday evening and is set to appear in a federal court in Miami tomorrow by 3pm EST.
