Chris Cuomo, Byron Donalds Slug It Out Over Trump’s Documents Case: ‘He Got Indicted Because of His Own Words’

NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo squared off with Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) over Donald Trump’s alleged illegalities in his handling of classified documents.

The two threw down on Tuesday night after Trump’s arraignment on 37 federal counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Espionage Act. Donalds cited Trump’s executive powers of declassification (despite Trump’s taped admission he didn’t declassify), and also the Bill Clinton sock drawer decision (which deals with a different set of facts from Trump’s case).

“A president of the United States is different than everybody else because they are the executive branch,” said Donalds. “They are the ones who dictate all sorts of steps on terms, what is classified information and also what is not classified information.”

Cuomo responded by accusing Donalds of ginning up political ammunition and ignoring the key distinctions of Trump’s case.

He got indicted because of his own words, and the notes from his lawyer, and from his staffer put him trying to make documents go away, try to not deal with the DOJ in ways that go beyond simple non-compliance. Nobody’s in a hurry to deal with a subpoena, but that’s why he’s in trouble. Okay? The obstruction and the conspiracy will work backwards to show why he had those documents and should have given them back, which is the root cause, which is the devil for (Watergate prosecutor) Jon Sale, which is why it may be his second reason that it’s not for him.

But when you have somebody who doesn’t cooperate, who fights it, who gets people to make things up and makes it clear that he wants to use subterfuge, deceit, to get out of something, you’re in a different category, Congressman Donalds. And if you had done that, you’d be getting prosecuted. [Joe] Biden didn’t. [Mike] Pence didn’t. [Hillary] Clinton didn’t. They cooperated with the DOJ.

Donald responded by claiming the indictment is the result of “politics,” and he also started attacking the record of special counsel Jack Smith. Cuomo disputed Donalds’ impugning of Smith, at which point, the congressman claimed the indictment happened because the Biden administration refused to cover Trump’s claims to executive privilege, and opened up the Justice Department’s scope for prosecution.

DONALDS: The White House counsel makes a determination on essentially presidential privilege, executive privilege, and they allow DOJ to open up the scope. That is how we got here. Here’s the fundamental political question. Does Joe Biden’s DOJ and frankly, does Joe Biden’s White House counsel, do they do that if we’re talking about Hillary Clinton? You and I both know the answer is no.

CUOMO: No, I don’t know that.

DONALDS: C’mon now! Chris, c’mon!

CROSSTALK

CUOMO: I don’t think they have the sequence of events right.

DONALDS: The White House counsel, Chris, this is documented. This is actually documented…The White House counsel had to sign off on the request from the Department of Justice to expand the scope. Those are the facts. And I’m telling you today that if you tell me they would open this up for a Democrat official. Yeah, I’m telling you, you’re not paying attention to the way politics are done in 2023.

Watch above via NewsNation.