Ari Fleischer Offers Novel Explanation For Trump Taking Classified Documents: Trump Didn’t Take a CIA Briefing, You Think He’s Reading Files?
Fox News contributor and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer offered a novel take on why Donald Trump is potentially not culpable for any classified documents he took with him from the White House to his Floridan mansion.
“If President Trump himself did not pack up those boxes. If, as reported, GSA, the General Services Administration, packed up the boxes, then it’s very hard to see culpability for the president,” Fleischer began, making a somewhat plausible point.
“And I have it on reliable authority that Donald Trump himself never opened those boxes in Mar a Lago and has no idea what’s in them,” he added as his take began to derail a bit, given that Trump has been storing the boxes for over 18 months and the contents of boxes previously reclaimed by the National Archives have been made public.
The National Archives retrieved materials improperly taken by Trump back in January. The items included “personal letters and gifts Mr. Trump had received, including correspondence with Kim Jong-un and a congratulatory letter that former President Barack Obama left for Mr. Trump,” reported the New York Times.
Given how these items specifically related to Trump, it would be a logical inference to assume Trump knew what he was taking.
Fleischer continued, offering a whole new take on why Trump didn’t know what was in the boxes. “I mean, people said that Donald Trump didn’t take a CIA briefing, so why do they think he’s hunting around his own basement reading files?” Fleischer charged, implying Trump’s lack of intellectual curiosity on national security matters absolves him of illegally taking national security-related documents.
Fleischer then quickly pivoted to Hillary Clinton to conclude his defense of Donald Trump:
The second point goes to Hillary Clinton. Hillary exposes the nation to much more danger because she had an electronic version of those records which could be hacked from Tehran, from Moscow or Beijing, a physical document in a basement. You’ve got to physically get into Mar a Lago, which it’s not easy to do.
Fleischer’s take on Friday marked a notable progression from his thoughts on Thursday night as news broke the FBI was looking for documents at Mar-a-Lago related to nuclear weapons.
“One thing I can’t wrap my arms around: If Trump had classified documents, why didn’t he give them back?” Fleischer tweeted.
One thing I can’t wrap my arms around: If Trump had classified documents, why didn’t he give them back?
Maybe he thought they were declassified. Maybe he thought it was government overreach. But if, for whatever reason, you have a classified document at home, you give it back.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) August 11, 2022
“Maybe he thought they were declassified. Maybe he thought it was government overreach. But if, for whatever reason, you have a classified document at home, you give it back,” Fleischer concluded, a far cry from Trump doesn’t read documents, therefore isn’t responsible for having them.
Watch the full clip above via Fox News
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