Did Trump Just Convict Himself on Fox News?

If former president Donald Trump’s case ever makes it to court, federal prosecutors will use his own words against him — spoken on national TV to Fox News host Bret Baier on Monday. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t even play one on internet video. So when it comes to stories like this one, there are a few people I turn to for sharp analysis and good advice.

On the surface at least, what Trump said could cause him trouble in court.

When Baier asked, “Why not just hand [the documents] over then?” Trump replied, “Because I had boxes — I wanted to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to NARA yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen.”

“These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of [personal] things.”

You can read more of the transcript here and decide for yourself.

I’m not here to pass judgment on the many indictments against Trump… except that I can’t let the opportunity entirely go. If we’re going to start prosecuting high-level executive branch people for keeping classified documents they shouldn’t have had, let’s start with Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, neither of whom, as secretary of state or (then) as vice president, had any legal power to declassify those documents. Trump did, which is maybe a strong mitigating factor.

That out of the way, it’s both easy and proper to dismiss Twitter hot takes like this one from Erick Erickson:

Guys, Trump admitted on TV tonight he withheld documents from the grand jury. Game over, legally. What an idiot.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) June 20, 2023

Is anything in a high-profile court case ever as clear-cut as that? And the “what an idiot” was a gratuitous slam on a politician, even for me.

My Hot Air colleague (and “Five O’Clock Somewhere” regular guest) Ed Morrissey had a not-so-gentle reminder for the accused: “The first rule of Federal Indictment Club is: you don’t talk about your case. And the second rule of Federal Indictment Club is: you don’t talk about your case, period.”

Emphasis and italics in the original because Ed, who is one of the fairest and most level-headed people I know, isn’t kidding around here.

“The surest way to help the prosecution,” Ed added, “is to go on television and make a damaging admission about the key element of a charge.”

Please note that Ed said “damaging” and not “damning.” The former hurts the defendant’s case. The latter is “Go directly to Jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.”

“Skip over the first 31 counts regarding the documents themselves in the indictment and go to counts 32 and 33,” Ed wrote, which involve “conspiracy to obstruct justice and withholding a record from a federal grand jury.” It’s there that Trump did “tacitly agree with the indictment’s allegation in attempting to justify his actions.”

What we have here, then, is a statement on Fox News that almost certainly doesn’t rise to the level of Trump practically convicting himself before his trial even begins but certainly complicates his defense.

What bothers me most here is Trump’s lack of judgment. He’s worked his entire adult life in one of the world’s most litigious industries, headquartered in one of the world’s most litigious cities. Add to that a couple of litigious and high-profile divorces, and you have a man who is supposed to know how to behave in public in ways that won’t damage his case in court.

Just as I was wrapping up this item, a breaking news alert came in from The Hill: “A Florida judge has set an initial Aug. 14 trial date for former President Donald Trump in the Justice Department’s case over his retention of classified documents.”

So Trump has a court date set for just nine days before the first Republican presidential debate is scheduled to be held in Milwaukee on the 23rd.

There won’t be any lack of drama in August.