When the Biden FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, they seized documents that were in the former president’s possession. Trump stated that the documents had been declassified by him before he left the White House, and were slated for his presidential museum.
A larger number of classified documents were also found at President Biden’s private residence in Delaware earlier this year as well as some documents being found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana, sparking concerns over how public officials handle classified documents after leaving office.
But the practice of declassifying documents and taking them at the end of a term is common among presidents leaving the Oval Office.
Trump’s handling of the documents is under investigation by special counsel Jack Smith, who is also overseeing a second federal investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has maintained that Smith has been gunning for him in the past, and was selected for that reason.
One of the cabinet members that Trump fired has made statements this week casting a very negative light on the document issue.
In an interview with CBS, former Attorney General Bill Barr said Thursday that the investigation into former President Trump’s handling of classified documents could leave him feeling “very exposed,” and that it was “very clear” Trump should not have had the classified documents found in his private Mar-a-Lago residence last year, The Hill reported.
“It doesn’t go a lot on intent or anything like that. It’s very clear that he had no business having those documents,” Barr told CBS’s Catherine Herridge. “He was given a long time to send them back. And they were subpoenaed.
“And I’ve said all along that he wouldn’t get in trouble, probably, just for taking them, just as Biden I don’t think is going to get in trouble or Pence is not going to get in trouble. The problem is: What did he do after the government asked for them back and subpoenaed them? And if there’s any games being played there, he’s going to be very exposed,” Barr said.
“It doesn’t go a lot on intent or anything like that. It’s very clear that he had no business having those documents,” Barr told CBS’s Catherine Herridge. “He was given a long time to send them back. And they were subpoenaed.
Trump made a point of cooperating with the FBI at the time the documents were seized from his home, and has also pointed out that other officials also have documents at their homes which were not stored with the amount of security maintained at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI had visited, checked, and approved of the Mar-a-Lago security of the documents.
Barr has previously been outspoken about Trump’s handling of the classified documents, saying last month the United States may have “very good evidence” that the former president obstructed justice in the documents probe, but gave no indication of what that “evidence” may be.
During his presidency, Trump had fired Bill Barr, who was serving as attorney general, and this week Trump posted:
“I only wish that Bill Barr, as the Attorney General of the United States was able to act. Sadly, he was afraid of the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics, and their constant threats against him of Impeachment, and was absolutely impotent on the subject of the Durham Report, he should have taken strong action.
Even more importantly, he did nothing on the massive Voter Fraud which took place during the 2020 Presidential Election. Remember you get NOTHING from RINOS. An honor to have fired him!”
As to Thursday’s comment by Barr on CBS, Trump responded on social media, Newsweek reports.
Taking to Truth Social on Saturday the former president responded and wrote:
“I did NOTHING WRONG! When are they going to start talking about [President Joe] Biden’s documents, and the documents of almost all other modern day Presidents?”
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/110401416426659301
Trump also previously posted about Barr:
“Bill Barr had ‘no guts’ and ‘no glory’… he was a weak and pathetic RINO, who was so afraid of being Impeached that he became a captive to the Radical Left Democrats.”
Others have the former president’s back in the matter, and one of those is Steve Bannon, who has been vocal on the issue for some time.
Bannon shared Barr’s remarks on Friday and commented on Gettr, “First Prosecution in President Trump’s 2nd Term—Bill Barr …..The worse type of Republican Establishment vermin.”
Last year, during his War Room podcast at the time, Bannon blasted Barr and his memoir One Damn Thing After Another. Bannon added that Barr’s book, which he called “shocking,” would be used as evidence against him if the GOP takes back the White House. Bannon also criticized Barr during that segment for “the lies he tells about election fraud, the lies he tells about misleading President Trump,” Newsweek reported.
“I would tell to Bill Barr, ‘Preserve your documents, preserve your documents, OK?’” he said.
