Trump doubles down: 'I had the right to' take confidential documents from National Archives

At his town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump was pressed about the investigation into classified documents stashed at his Mar-a-Lago country club — and he defiantly claimed he had a blanket right to take all those documents in perpetuity, and that every other president has done the same thing.

"I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act," said Trump. "You have the Presidential Records Act. I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified. Biden, on the other hand, has 1,850 boxes that he had sent to Chinatown. They don't even speak English there! I had every right do it. I didn't make a secret of it. The boxes were stationed outside of the White House."

"I got to stop you right there," said moderator Kaitlan Collins. "The Presidential Records Act, which is not well known to a lot of people, it does not say you can take documents with you. It says they are the property of the federal court. It does not say you can negotiate. There's nothing you can negotiate to take the documents with you."

"Can I tell you, just so you understand, the Presidential Records Act is not criminal," said Trump. "I took the documents. I'm allowed to. You know who else took them? Obama took them, Nixon took them."

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"Obama did not take documents," Collins corrected him.

"He didn't? He didn't?" shot back Trump. "Take a look. Reagan took them. Even Jimmy Carter. Even Mike Pence had some documents, and he's a very honorable guy. You know who took them more than anybody? Joe Biden. He has 1,800 boxes."

"That's not accurate and you know it," said Collins.