Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he didn’t “want to hand over” boxes of classified government documents despite getting a subpoena because he hoped to keep personal items that he believed belong to him.
Doubling down on his “my boxes” defense, Trump admitted in an interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier that he intentionally defied the grand jury subpoena so he could rummage through the boxes that he first took to his Mar-a-Lago estate more than 1½ years earlier.
“I had boxes. I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out,” Trump said. “I don’t want to hand that over to (federal officials) yet.”
Trump did not flinch when given the chance by Baier to deny or explain prosecution claims that he ordered the boxes moved from a storage room to hide them from federal investigators and even his own lawyers.
“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out,” Trump insisted defiantly. “These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things.”
Trump first floated the outlandish claim that he had the right to withhold the classified documents in a fundraising speech the last week hours after he was arraigned on 37 federal counts tied to the documents case.
But he expanded on the argument in the Monday interview in a way that may give valuable ammunition to prosecutors, especially since everything he says about the case can be used against him at trial.
Defense lawyers would likely cringe at Trump’s admission that he intentionally refused to comply with the subpoena. And by explaining his supposed reasons for defying the subpoena, Trump is effectively handing prosecutors a motive for the crimes.
The interview came hours after Trump was ordered Monday not to share evidence in his classified documents case with others or spread it on social media.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart instructed Trump not to disseminate any of the information his defense team is set to receive from federal prosecutors as the discovery phase of the historic case cranks up.
“The Discovery Materials ... shall not be disclosed to the public or the news media, or disseminated on any news or social media platform, without prior notice to and consent of the United States or approval of the Court,” Reinhart, who authorized the search warrant for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, wrote in the order.
The order, which was requested by the prosecution, was not opposed by Trump’s lawyers.
It bars Trump from discussing the evidence with anyone not directly related to the case. It also sets strict limits to how Trump can access the documents, requiring him to review them only in the presence of his lawyers and barring him from taking them out of their offices.
The former president could face criminal contempt of court charges if he violates the order, Reinhart said.
Reinhart issued the order but controversial U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon is expected to preside over Trump’s trial in a south Florida court.
Trump faces a similar limited gag order in his New York state case on charges tied to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Cannon, a right-wing Trump appointee who has next to no trial experience, last year was heavily criticized for a series of short-lived pro-Trump rulings over the documents that were recovered in the Mar-a-Lago search.
Trump is the only former president ever indicted on criminal charges. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last week.
The order applies to Trump as well as his co-defendant Walt Nauta, who is accused of helping the former president hide classified documents from the feds.
