Trump 'privately boasted' about the Fox News interview legal experts say was a 'disaster'

21 June 2023

On Monday night, June 19, Fox News aired part of an interview in which former President Donald Trump discussed the 37-count federal criminal prosecution he is facing. Special counsel Jack Smith alleges that Trump endangered the United States' national security by storing highly classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago, but Trump defended his actions during the interview with Fox News' Bret Baier and maintained that he did nothing wrong.

Many legal experts have been saying that the interview gave Smith and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) even more ammunition to use against him. But according to Rolling Stone, Trump believes the interview was a raging success.

In an article published by Rolling Stone on June 20, journalist Asawin Suebsaeng explains, "In the hours after his interview with Brett Baier aired on Monday, Trump privately boasted about how well he thought he performed. As he asked others if they had caught the interview and what they thought of it, the former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner said the tension and parrying with Baier made him look tough, creating buzzy, attention-grabbing television, two sources with knowledge of the situation tell Rolling Stone."

Suebsaeng continues, "During the televised sit-down, Trump arguably confessed to intentionally withholding classified government documents in his post-presidency; this Fox appearance comes the week after his arrest and arraignment in the federal investigation into his hoarding of highly classified material and possible obstruction. Where Trump saw buzz, people hoping to keep him out of legal jeopardy saw trouble."

Ty Cobb, a former attorney in the Trump White House, told Rolling Stone that legally, Trump didn't do himself any favors during his conversation with Baier.

Cobb said of the interview, "It was a disaster, if you are his lawyer. And they'll have more of those, because they won't be able to keep him quiet…. Trump gave the government an enormous gift (in that Fox interview), and they will be able to use what he said to assist them in proving the former president's intent as to virtually all the charges in the Mar-a-Lago indictment."

Read Rolling Stone's full article at this link (subscription required).

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