Former Acting Trump Attorney General Says Jack Smith’s New Charges in Classified Docs Case Are ‘Vindictive & Petty’

Forming acting Attorney General in the Trump administration Matt Whitaker defended his former boss on Fox News, claiming that Special Counsel Jack Smith‘s new charges are “vindictive and petty.”

Smith and his investigators at the FBI filed additional charges against Donald Trump in the classified documents case, alleging that he asked a staffer to delete security footage to obstruct the DOJ’s investigation.

The new filing charges a third defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, who works as a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago. The Republican frontrunner was initially charged alongside longtime personal aide Walt Nauta for the handling of classified material.

Whitaker told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner that Smith’s new charges appeared to be vindictive during an interview on Friday.

“I think this last round of charges to supersede this indictment was to try to punish Donald Trump,” Whitaker said. “He had made an issue and people that support him made an issue that the prosecutor didn’t have this Iran battle plan document, and that made the special prosecutor look bad.

It looks like Jack Smith said, ‘you know, you want to play that game, you want to call me out, you want to highlight, you know, what I what I’m doing wrong in this case, I will supersede your indictment,’ he added. “It seems to me a little vindictive and petty.”

He concluded, “The reason for why I would say that is because these charges don’t add anything other than a new defendant. They don’t add anything to a potential sentence if ultimately President Trump would get convicted of these charges.”

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.