Donald Trump's former attorney claims the obstruction charge in his classified documents is weak because the former president left behind "dozens" of banker boxes filled with papers.
Jim Trusty, who served as the former president's counsel to defend against accusations that he hoarded classified documents from the White House at his Mar-a-Lago estate but quit in June, cast doubt on the strength of the case on CNN's "The Source" with Kaitlan Collins.
Collins posed the question to Trusty: "If Trump thought he was allowed to keep these documents as his attorneys argued today and as you have argued before — why was he having them moved out while the FBI is there at Mar-a-Lago to collect said documents?"
"My first thought is, if he was actually trying to obstruct by hiding documents, why would he leave dozens behind for them to recover? ... So it doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Trusty said.
He was referring to former Mar-a-Lago employee Brian Butler, a witness in the case who came forward this week in an interview to Collins to recount following orders to move the classified documents.
In the interview with CNN, Butler said he remembered the day in June 2022 when FBI agents converged on Mar-a-Lago to recover the banker boxes of classified documents.
He said he had already helped Walt Nauta, Trump’s body man and co-defendant in the federal criminal case, lug boxes from Mar-a-Lago to the airport and loaded them on a plane as Trump prepared to depart for his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“I come to realize now at the same time he’s going in there, the boxes are going from somewhere into a vehicle, which are eventually going to the plane, which I load with Walt,” Butler said.
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Trusty isn't sold that Butler's account is undisputed, and he noted the witness has yet to be grilled by defense attorneys.
"I was a prosecutor for 27 years," said Trusty. "I guarantee you if you're a prosecutor and this guy comes out smiling on TV to talk about his testimony — you are cringing.
"He has not been cross-examined yet. He may not have been interviewed by anybody but the FBI at this point."
He continued: "So you've got to take a wait-and-see maybe he'll be a blockbuster witness."
