In an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Monday, Trump adamantly denied having any documents containing sensitive national security information. This follows claims in the indictment that he was recorded saying he had the “Iran Attack Plan” at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump asserted that while he did have copies of newspaper articles and magazines, there were no documents as such to be declassified.
He added that those testifying against him were “dishonest people” and “thugs” who should not be taken seriously. He further clarified his position by stating he never saw any documents from United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and labeled him as “incompetent”.
According to the Daily Caller:
Baier brought up the claim in the federal indictment against Trump, which alleges the former president was recorded saying he had the “Iran Attack Plan” in his possession at Mar-a-Lago. Trump denied these claims, instead arguing that he had no such documents at Mar-a-Lago.
“There wasn’t a document,” Trump said. “I had lots of paper. I had copies of newspaper articles. I had copies of magazines. I had copies of everything.”
Baier interjected, telling Trump the indictment alleges he was recorded acknowledging the documents were “highly confidential” and that he knew he couldn’t “declassify” them.
“And, the indictment cites the recording and the testimony from people in the room saying you showed it to people there that day. So, you say on this tape that you can’t declassify it, so why have it?” Baier asked.
Trump agreed that he no longer held the power to declassify documents since he is no longer president. However, Trump continued to argue that the purported “Iran Attack Plan” was not in his possession at Mar-a-Lago.
“Bret, there was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things, and it may have been held up or may not. But that was not a document. I didn’t have a document per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles.”
The former president then ripped the credibility of those that testified against him and were cited in the indictment.
“These people are very dishonest people. They’re thugs. They’re thugs.” Trump said.
