‘He Is Not Denying Any Of It!’ NBC’s Chuck Todd Pounds Trump Lawyer In Epic Grilling on Classified Docs Crimes
NBC News anchor Chuck Todd gave Trump attorney Jim Trusty a marathon grilling on former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case, including an extended chunk on what some see as Trump’s recent near-confession.
Trump’s arraignment in Manhattan over crimes involving hush money payments to adult entertainment entrepreneur Stormy Daniels and others was the big story this week. But Trump is also facing Special Counsel Jack Smith-led Justice Department probes into Trump’s mishandling of classified information under the Espionage Act and his conduct surrounding the January 6 insurrection, as well as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ grand jury investigation of former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn election results in Georgia.
On Sunday morning’s edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, Todd devoted his entire interview with Trusty to the documents case, including several contentious exchanges based on comments Trump made in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity and incisive questions about Trump’s attacks on Smith. Some highlights:
CHUCK TODD: Do you know for sure whether the former president got involved with the unpacking and moving of the boxes or not?
JAMES TRUSTY: Yeah. I mean, can you imagine? I mean, does anybody in their right mind really think that Donald Trump came down to Mar-a-Lago while still president, I guess, in January and said, “Hey, these are the boxes I packed. Let’s be careful with those. That goes in the dining room. That goes in the closet”?
CHUCK TODD: He told Hannity he could.
JAMES TRUSTY: No, he—
CHUCK TODD: He is not denying any of it.
JAMES TRUSTY: He said, “I would have the right to.” He didn’t pack the boxes. Come on. I mean, that’s like absurd, to think that President Trump in the middle of—
CHUCK TODD: He didn’t—
JAMES TRUSTY: –January of 2021—
CHUCK TODD: He didn’t say, “I want to keep–”
JAMES TRUSTY: No.
CHUCK TODD: –“certain documents.” You don’t think he did that—
JAMES TRUSTY: You know, if you look at the boxes, as I have—
CHUCK TODD: You make this just seem like it’s hard to believe. To anybody that has covered or spent time with the former president—I know you’re new to him—this is who he is.
JAMES TRUSTY: So you’re going to vouch for him packing—
CHUCK TODD: I’m just asking–
JAMES TRUSTY: –the boxes? Chuck, come on—
CHUCK TODD: I’m just asking. Like, the idea that he wouldn’t do this, he himself just said it.
JAMES TRUSTY: Chuck, listen to—
CHUCK TODD: That he every right to it.
JAMES TRUSTY: –what he said. This is the third time I’ve had to correct you. It’s, “I would have the right.” That’s what he said to Hannity.
CHUCK TODD: If he didn’t do it, he’d say—
JAMES TRUSTY: Chuck.
CHUCK TODD: –didn’t do it.
JAMES TRUSTY: No. Chuck, he’s making the point that it’s not illegal for a president to possess documents like this. The bottom line is—I’ll make it clear to you since you seem to be struggling with it—President Trump didn’t sit there with masking tape and Sharpies and say, “Hey, let’s sit down Indian style and start packing these boxes and send them to Mar-a-Lago–”
CHUCK TODD: I don’t think anybody’s alleged he was sitting Indian style. I’ll give you that.
JAMES TRUSTY: Well, great point.
…
CHUCK TODD: You stand by the comments he’s made about Jack Smith?
JAMES TRUSTY: That was –
CHUCK TODD: Calling him a monster and a lunatic?
JAMES TRUSTY: I’m telling you there’s reason to be frustrated. And there’s an unethical nature of this prosecution when the Attorney General holds a press conference that not even a local DA in Butte would do because they know it’s against the ethics of being a prosecutor.
CHUCK TODD: So you stand by the president politicizing these attacks on Jack Smith?
JAMES TRUSTY: Look, the president, he’s a very resilient guy. He is a very opinionated guy. I’m not going to spend my time worrying about the politics, worrying about his poll numbers are through the roof. I mean, I don’t care about that stuff. I’m here in the legal lane. And he’s got a right to be frustrated. But he’s not just frustrated for himself; he’s frustrated for the country.
Watch the full interview above via NBC’s Meet the Press.
