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Former South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy made some eyebrow-raising comments about former President Donald Trump after he was indicted by Biden’s U.S. Department of Justice.
During an interview on Fox News, Gowdy and others discussed Trump being arraigned in Miami in the case brought against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Biden’s DOJ. Trump pleaded “not guilty” in federal court. If he is found guilty on all counts, Trump — who is President Joe Biden’s chief rival in next year’s presidential election — could face decades in prison.
Host Shannon Bream asked: “You heard the soundbite from the president there yesterday saying that Jack Smith is deranged? He mentioned his wife as well. Trey, if he were your client, what would you say to him about making statements now that the indictment is out there?”
Gowdy wasted little time throwing several shots at Trump.
“I would resign, because you cannot control this client. That is the thing with President Trump. There is a kernel of truth. He has been treated differently and worse than others. That is crystal clear. But to say that the prosecutor is deranged, I am pretty sure that’s like a medical diagnosis that he is not competent to give. I just — I think that he undercuts his legitimate arguments when he argues by hyperbole,” Gowdy said.
WATCH:
A former Trump criminal defense attorney argued that the investigation into Trump over the alleged mishandling of classified documents may not even go to trial.
Timothy Parlatore — who served as a criminal defense attorney for Trump until last month — argued he believes the case has fundamental flaws, particularly over the grand jury process and breaches of attorney-client privilege. Parlatore said he believes this could result in the entire case being thrown out.
Parlatore said Trump’s attorneys should “attack the conduct of the entire investigation and show through death by a thousand cuts why this entire investigation is irreparably tainted by government misconduct,” adding: “The case, therefore, should be dismissed or, at a minimum, the prosecutor should be disqualified.”
Trump made new revelations recently about a supposed “secret document” he discussed on an audio recording at the center of the federal government’s indictment earlier this month.
According to the indictment, Trump allegedly showed classified documents to several people who did not have the proper security clearances on at least two separate occasions. The DOJ alleges that both instances took place at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
Details regarding one of the alleged instances were leaked to CNN.
The network reported on June 2 that federal prosecutors had “obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything.”
The charges “include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, a scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations,” ABC News reported.
But in a wide-ranging Fox News interview with Bret Baier on Monday, Trump said that he never showed anyone the classified U.S. military plan referred to in the audio recording to anyone.
“There was no document,” Trump told Baier.
“That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” he continued. “And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles,” he explained.
Per the indictment, at the meeting, Trump said he found Milley’s “plan of attack.” But he denied ordering Milley to create such a plan and said it was a misconception.
“I never ordered that to happen, no,” Trump told the Fox News anchor.
Baier raised a question regarding Trump’s use of the term “secret” to characterize a document, which seemed to conflict with his earlier assertions of having declassified all pertinent materials.
Trump clarified that his statement was in relation to his limited authority to declassify documents after his presidency ended and that the confidentiality of the source materials he possessed was the reason for their secrecy.
