‘They Were In His Possession!’ Don Lemon Tussles with CNN Legal Analyst About Whether Trump Committed a Crime by Taking Docs
Don Lemon and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig had a spirited disagreement about whether former President Donald Trump is guilty of a federal crime.
Earlier this month, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where they retrieved several boxes of government documents that Trump was supposed to give to the National Archives upon leaving office, per federal law. Some of the material is classified.
Lemon stated the facts of the case and declared Trump is guilty of violating the law. However, Honig said Trump’s intent is crucial.
“Everyone deserves a defense and all that,” Lemon said. “I get that. Innocent until proven guilty, but the fact is we’re arguing over he’s guilty or not. Of course he is. He took the documents. Now we are talking about just how bad the documents are, how top, top secret they are – not that he did something wrong.”
Honig disagreed:
HONIG: I can’t sign on to that, because as a prosecutor, I know that you had the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and you can’t just take a bunch of newspaper articles when we’ve not even seen the documents and declare someone’s guilty.
LEMON: So there are no top secret documents found?
HONIG: There certainly were.
LEMON: Were there documents taken from the White House–
HONIG: Yes.
LEMON: –that were not supposed to be taken, that was supposed to be in the custody of the National Archives.
HONIG: Do we have proof that Donald Trump himself saw those documents, knew what was in them, had intent to violate the law as opposed to just–
LEMON: But you have to prove that in court, I know that’s a process. But the fact is it was an act that happened! So whether it’s Donald Trump or someone in the White House, they were in his possession!
HONIG: You have to show knowledge and intent.
Later in the segment, Lemon argued that no matter who brought the government documents to Mar-a-Lago, the ultimate responsibility lies with Trump.
“The buck stops with who?” the host asked.
“Whoever you can show, knew what was in those documents,” Honig replied.
“Elie, Elie,” Lemon protested.
“I’m not being pedantic,” Honig responded.
The two continued to disagree for the rest of the segment.
Watch above via CNN.
