Ex Congressman Mocks Trump’s Shifting Defense Over Documents Audio: ‘If I Were His Lawyers…I’d Be Cringing’
Former Congressman Max Rose (D-NY) laughed over Donald Trump changing his story to defend himself on his recorded comments pointing to his improper possession of classified documents.
Rose was on CNN This Morning alongside Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson to address the former president’s responses to the newly-revealed tape. The audio is likely a central point of the government’s criminal case against Trump since he was recorded bragging to people and showing off papers with Iran battle plans, all while saying, “as president, I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
Trump has blasted the investigation between claims he did “absolutely nothing wrong.” In his latest comments to reporters, he claimed that he was using bravado while he was being recorded.
“I would say it was bravado, if you want to know the truth, it was bravado,” Trump told Talcott on Tuesday. “I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents. I didn’t have any documents.”
As Talcott broke down Trump’s explanations for the tape, Phil Mattingly and Poppy Harlow noted that Rose laughed as he sat beside her. After joking that Trump is “collecting indictments like they’re Beanie Babies in the ’90s,” Rose focused on Trump’s admission of holding classified documents that he no longer had the power to declassify.
Let’s assume he’s telling the truth, which he, obviously, is not. He still says he has classified documents that we do know the federal government is demanding that he return. These are not just your run-of-the-mill classified documents. These are the highest level of classification regarding the highest level of military secrets that we have. If I were his lawyers, I would defer to our legal expert, of course, I would be cringing that he’s still talking about this case in this regard.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal counts earlier this month for allegations of willfully retaining classified documents and obstructing the government in their efforts to retrieve them. The ex-president has offered many arguments to defend his right to the documents, which have been torn apart by legal experts.
Previously, Trump claimed his recorded remarks were “an exoneration” and did not deny that the documents pertained to military plans for Iran.
Watch above via CNN.
