'Just idiotic' Ex-Trump attorney slammed after comparing documents to Hillary Clinton’s emails

04 June 2023

Timothy Parlatore, an attorney who resigned resigned from representing former President Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, compared his former clients' classified documents to Hillary Clinton's emails Sunday.

The attorney spoke with Meet the Press host Chuck Todd about whether he would be "surprised" if Trump is not charged.

Meet the Press shared a clip of Parlatore's interview, tweeting, "WATCH: Fmr. Trump attorney @timparlatore says the case for not prosecuting Trump over classified docs is similar to that of not prosecuting Hillary Clinton over emails. 'You have to ... take these documents … and prove to [a jury] that it constitutes nat’l defense information.'"

The clip starts with Todd asking Parlatore, "Uh, would you be surprised if the former president isn't charged for something here?"

The former Trump attorney replied, "No, not at all. Not at all. I think this is a case where...you know, you have to evaluate every case based on what are the facts and the law, uh, and is it something that's provable? But then there's also the other atmospherics of, is this something that, um, you know from a discretion point of view, is this something that makes sense? Is this something where it is a slam dunk case where some of these things could be interpreted a few different ways?"

Parlatore added, "And also when it comes to a specific issue like this, um, where we are talking about potentially national defense information. Is it the type of thing where they want to, uh, declassify these things, if they haven't already been declassified, and put them out publicly? You know, there are a lot of additional, um, problems or procedures too have to go through with that type of a case especially when it's politically sensitive."

He concluded, "And I know not a lot of people are gonna agree with this, um, parallel, but to me, even if he did a lot of the things that they're saying that he did. Prosecuting him, the same reasons why you wouldn't want to prosecute him is to why back in 2016, I was of the opinion that Hillary Clinton shouldn't be prosecuted, because there are all of these other problems. You have to, classification is not binding on the jury. You have to actually take these documents, show them to the jury, and then prove to them that it constitutes national defense information."

Pro-democracy opinion writer at The Washington Post Jennifer Rubin reacted to the clip via Twitter, saying, "this is just idiotic. the issue isn't classification. it's intent and Trump has confessed publicly. I don't see the utility of having this guy on."

George Conway, contributing columnist at The Washington Postcommented, "What does this guy think he's doing?"

News Editor at Mississippi Free Press Ashton Pitman wrote, "Well there's also the fact that Hillary Clinton never actually took or stored classified information on her server, which seems like an important point!"

Counsel at Protect Democracy and former Justice Department attorney Dr. Kristy Parker said, "It's not even close to similar and the issue is not the nature of the documents — it’s the criminal intent and the obstruction (which also establishes intent)."

Director of Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and National Security at George Mason University Larry Pfeiffer, wrote, "Wait…I'm confused. The documents that Trump declassified in his mind now need to be declassified to show to a jury to prove they are national defense info? Or are you saying they ARE classified and admitting they were improperly stored? Keep your story straight, Tim."

Former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce Alene added, "This is an intentional effort to confuse people. The issue that divides Trump from Clinton and others like Pence and Biden, is one of willfulness & intent."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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