With his every word about the ongoing battle between Israel and Hamas terrorists who attacked the country a week ago, failed former president Donald Trump is strengthening the criminal case against him for his alleged stealing of classified documents when he left the White House.
Just this week, the Washington Post notes, Trump made the case against him even more airtight by suggesting that he has a “willful disregard for protecting national security secrets.”
During a campaign rally in Florida on Wednesday, the disgraced ex-president, who is facing 91 criminal counts in multiple jurisdictions, remarked:
“I don’t think this has ever been told. They’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s classified information.’ Maybe it is, but I don’t think so.”
The former president then proceeded to tell a story about a U.S. operation in 2020 that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force. Trump claimed that Israel was an important partner in the effort but backed out at the last minute. “We had everything all set to go, and the night before it happened, I got a call that Israel would not be participating in this attack,” Trump said. “Nobody’s heard this story before, but I’d like to tell it to Club 47 because you’ve been so loyal and so beautiful.”
Seconds later, Trump told his supporters, “I can do whatever I want, but I did nothing wrong.”
That’s some deeply flawed logic. If you can do whatever you want, then how could it possibly be wrong? The volume of indictments against Trump certainly suggest he isn’t above the law and he did something illegal in the eyes of the Justice Department.
Even one of Trump’s former attorneys thinks the former president is making a huge mistake with his comments.
“Trump’s public statements erode his defenses enormously,” said Ty Cobb, who served as a White House lawyer in the Trump administration but has become an outspoken public critic of the former president. “Flip-flopping between ‘I had the power’ with the classified documents and “there was a process” — both acknowledge the possession of the classified documents.”
Trump has also seriously undercut his defense during interviews such as the one he gave to NBC’s “Meet the Press” just last month.
Trump kneecapped a key defense strategy his lawyers have raised in that case — that he was fighting the election results based on advice from attorneys.
Trump said in the interview that he decided for himself the election was stolen from him. “It was my decision,” the former president said, though he acknowledged he also listened to lawyers. “You know who I listen to? Myself. I saw what happened.”
Once more, it’s clear that Donald Trump is his own worst enemy and will likely be the primary reason he loses in court and winds up incarcerated for the remainder of his life.
