Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig outlined the new details revealed in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, who according to prosecutors oversaw every step of the removal of the classified documents from the White House, in a Monday segment on CNN's "The Lead."
"We're learning more about the locations of the boxes that contain classified materials inside Mar-a-Lago and just how close they were to the public," said anchor Jake Tapper. "It provides a disturbing timeline of the movement of the documents throughout Mar-a-Lago."
"Jake, these documents went on quite a journey which actually begins in Washington, D.C.," said Honig. "One important mystery that the indictment addresses is when these boxes were getting packed up in the final days of the White House, the indictment alleges, Donald Trump knew about that and oversaw it.
"There was some question before by some of his supporters, why would he be involved in the packing, the indictment alleges he was involved in that. Documents get shipped down to Florida, to Mar-a-Lago. And the first place they are stored is in this room, in the white and gold ballroom and, yes, that is a stage, that is where they are. And the indictment is, again, a little bit ambiguous. It says there were regularly events, weddings, fundraisers—"
"We see TikToks and stuff held in this," cut in Tapper. "Donald Trump shows up and gives a speech."
"Exactly," said Honig. "What the indictment says, this room was in use at the time that they stored those documents there. Next, they get moved temporarily to a business center and then they land in, yes, that is a bathroom and, yes, that right there is a toilet, that is a shower, that was their next destination in a place in Mar-a-Lago called the lake room. And then finally, and this is really the most important place where they land, these documents are moved to a storage room.
"There's one incident in the indictment where one of the attendants goes in and finds classified documents. They're blurred out. But highly classified documents spilled on the ground, and the indictment says this is the storage room right here and it says it was accessible by a hallway which you could get to by the pool patio. This is the pool right here and it was often kept unlocked."
"This becomes a focus for the obstruction charges," Honig added. "They get a subpoena, they move the boxes inside the storage room. But in the day before the lawyer appears, Trump has 64 boxes pulled out and only 30 returned. When the lawyer did that review, 34 boxes of documents were missing."
"Just a reminder, this is a hotel and resort," said Tapper. "This is not a presidential enclave. It's a hotel and resort."
Watch below:
Elie Honig says Trump oversaw packing that removed classified documentswww.youtube.com
