Don Lemon Grills Jean-Pierre on Mar-a-Lago Raid: ‘Who Is We? Who Knew About It at the White House?’
Don Lemon grilled White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday evening about who, if anyone at the White House, knew about the raid on Former President Donald Trump’s home beforehand.
The White House has maintained that no one in the executive branch had advanced knowledge FBI agents would search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents earlier this month.
In an otherwise cordial interview with Jean-Pierre, Lemon invoked the raid.
“I’ve got to ask you about the investigation into these classified documents kept at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort,” Lemon said, before he noted CNN has reported someone in the White House counsel’s office was aware of missing documents and deferred the matter to the National Archives.
“Who in the White House knew about the investigation?” Lemon asked. “Because the president has been adamant that he knew nothing – got no warning about it.”
Jean-Pierre appeared frustrated by yet another question about the DOJ investigation into the documents.
She responded:
So, those are two different things, so let me just say that for a second. Look, when it comes to the investigation, the search that we saw recently that you all have reported on, we have been very clear on this. The president was not briefed. No one at the White House was briefed. We were not briefed on the investigation.
Lemon made numerous follow-up attempts to get an answer on the matter, but was unsuccessful.
Jean-Pierre added the White House found out about the investigation from CNN’s reporting.
Regarding a letter that deferred the matter of missing documents to the National Archives, Jean-Pierre said, “What we did is we deferred. We deferred to the Department of Justice.”
Lemon demanded an answer.
“Who is we?” he asked. “Who knew about it at the White House?”
Jean-Pierre responded, “I don’t have specific names or specific – the White House deferred that to the national archivist.”
The New York Times described the letter Jean-Pierre referenced as follows:
President Donald J. Trump took more than 700 pages of classified documents, including some related to the nation’s most covert intelligence operations, to his private club and residence in Florida when he left the White House in January 2021, according to a letter that the National Archives sent to his lawyers this year.
You can read the letter in its entirety here.
Watch above, via CNN.
