Trump spars with Baier on indictments, personnel hires in new interview
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (FLV) – Former President Donald Trump spoke with Fox News anchor Bret Baier in a Monday interview over the former president’s recent indictments and the personnel choices he made during his first term.
It was Trump’s first interview since he pled not guilty to 37 charges, several of which fall under the Espionage Act of 1917, in a federal classified documents probe.
When pressed by Baier on his conduct in keeping the documents in question, Trump alleged that he had “every right to have those boxes” and that he wanted to “go through the boxes” to sort out personal items.
“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out,” Trump said. “These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things.”
Baier also asked Trump about allegations the former president kept “Iran war plans” to which the President flat out denied.
During the interview, Trump expressed defiance and raised suspicions about the National Archives and Records Administration, suggesting that they may have tampered with the boxes of documents obtained during last year’s FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago.
He expressed concern over the lack of access granted to him or his team during the retrieval of classified materials at his residence in August 2022.
Trump also expressed outrage over President Joe Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents while he was vice president and a senator.
“He has boxes stored in Chinatown in D.C., he has boxes stored at Penn Center, and he has boxes under his corvette sitting in a garage for years,” Trump said. “It was very seriously classified.”
Baier pressed Trump on his personnel choices during his first term as president and why several of them are running against him for their party’s nomination.
Trump responded that he hired “phenomenal people” that were “ten to one fantastic.”
“I’m not a fan of Milley and I’m not a fan of certain of the television people,” Trump said. “I defeated ISIS, they said, Mattis, it would take three years and I don’ think we can do it. I did it in a period of like four weeks.”
Trump is set to host a campaign event in Pickens, South Carolina on July 1.
