Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, continued to defend his decision to keep classified documents at his Florida resort as he faces 37 federal charges related to allegations of mishandling classified materials.
Trump and his personal aide, Walt Nauta, were indicted by a grand jury earlier this month for allegedly violating federal laws related to the recovery of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago after Trump departed the White House. Trump and Nauta were arraigned in Miami federal court on June 13, where they pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The trial in the case is set to begin as soon as Aug. 14.
In a contentious interview with Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier, Trump denied allegations of mishandling classified materials, promoted lies about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, and discussed his 2024 presidential bid.
Here are five takeaways from Trump’s interview on Fox News:
Why the classified documents were not returned
After Baier pressed Trump on why he did not return the boxes of classified documents to the National Archives and Records Administration earlier, Trump said the boxes were packed with personal items and that he was “very busy.”
“I had boxes,” Trump said. “I wanted to go through the boxes and get all of my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to NARA yet.”
“And I was very busy,” Trump added, “as you’ve sort of seen.”
The boxes with classified documents were packed with magazines, old newspapers, clothing, and personal items, according to Trump.
“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out,” he said. “These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things: golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes.”
Still promoting lies about the 2020 election
The former president’s 2024 presidential campaign is in full swing, but at times Trump still seemed more concerned about 2020 than 2024.
When Baier asked Trump what his message would be to win back a hypothetical independent female voters who did not support Trump in 2020 and now disapproves of President Biden, Trump ignored the question.
“First of all, I won in 2020 by a lot,” Trump said. “Let’s get that straight.”
Trump then got in a testy back and forth exchange with Baier, who told the former president: “You lost the 2020 election.”
Criticizing his former Cabinet members
Trump also took aim at several of his former Cabinet members during the interview.
Trump said former Attorney General Bill Barr is “a coward,” after Barr said the evidence in the indictment related to Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents is “damning.”
Trump said that, if elected in 2024, one change he would make from his first term is to surround himself with “really great strong people,” and named Barr and John Bolton, his national security adviser.
“You know, actually Bolton was good because everybody, every time I negotiated, people said, ‘Oh, they’ve got this maniac here, he’s going to go to war with us,'” Trump said. “And they’d concede every point. I mean, it was actually pretty good in a certain way.”
Trump won’t say if he supports Taiwan independence
Trump said that if he was president, China “would never be talking about even the concept of going into Taiwan.”
He refused to say, however, whether he supports independence for Taiwan, claiming it would make discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping more difficult.
“If I tell you an answer, it’s going to hurt me in negotiations on the assumption that I win,” Trump said.
As Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded a visit to Beijing where he met with Xi in an attempt by the Biden administration to reset relations between the U.S. and China, Trump touted his own handling of China.
“I have a very good relationship with President Xi,” Trump said. “After Covid came in I sort of didn’t want the relationship and I sort of ended the relationship, after having made one of the greatest trade deals ever made.”
Trump also slammed Biden over his handling of a Chinese surveillance balloon that traveled over a large portion of the U.S. mainland, before it was shot down off the South Carolina coast.
“They wouldn’t have ever had a spy balloon if I was president,” he said. “That spy balloon was going right over our nuclear sites taking pictures and we killed it after it was leaving.”
Trump pledged to end the war in Ukraine
Trump also claimed that if he was still president, Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine.
When asked if Putin was wrong to launch an invasion of Ukraine, Trump said Putin “wouldn’t have done it if it were me.”
“I thought he might do it,” Trump said. “I talked to him, I said, ‘If you do it, there’s going to be hell to pay. It’s going to be a catastrophe, don’t do it.'”
Trump previously claimed that he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if he is elected president and during the interview touted his relationships with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The former president, however, declined to say whether he would offer Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula to Russian in order to end the war.
“I don’t talk about those deals because it really would impede a negotiation,” Trump said.
