‘Are You Gonna Cross-Examine Bret Baier?’ Former Trump Attorney Explains ‘Problem’ With Ex-President Discussing Indictment With Media
Tim Parlatore, a former attorney for President Donald Trump said the ex-president ignored his advice not to discuss his legal issues in public and that this is a “problem” for him.
Appearing on Tuesday’s CNN Tonight, Parlatore laid out potential legal strategies for Trump after the ex-president sat down for a lengthy interview with Bret Baier of Fox News that aired on Monday and Tuesday.
Baier asked Trump about the 37 federal counts he has been charged with stemming from his retention of government material. The indictment says Trump took classified documents with him upon leaving office and repeatedly obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve them. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The anchor asked why he didn’t simply return the material – even when he received a subpoena for it.
“Because I had boxes,” Trump replied. “I want[ed] to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to [the National Records and Archives Administration]. I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen.”
CNN host Abby Phillip asked Parlatore about Trump’s comments.
“Given what you just heard him say – admitting he held onto the boxes in spite of a grand jury subpoena – was he admitting, basically, obstruction there?”
“It’s difficult to know,” Parlatore replied. “This is one of the reasons why we always advise our clients, ‘Don’t talk about the case. You have the right to remain silent. Use it. Let your attorneys talk about it.'”
He added that Trump’s reference to the National Records and Archives Administration – to which Trump was supposed to give all government documents upon leaving office – might indicate he was confused about Baier’s question.
“I look at the answer that he gave there,” Parlatore continued. “And he says, ‘Yeah, I did want to give it back to NARA yet.’ You know, so was he actually possibly mixing up the question and talking about the first set of boxes before the subpoena?”
In early 2022, Trump returned some material to the government before a lawyer signed a letter to the Department of Justice stating that to her knowledge, no government documents remained at Mar-a-Lago. When the FBI executed a search warrant at the property in August, agents found more material. Trump ignored the subpoena before the raid.
Parlatore concluded his point:
But here’s the problem. Putting that statement out there – with that question – yes, the prosecutors can absolutely use that. And even if he meant that he was talking about the NARA request as opposed to the subpoena request, that’s gonna be very difficult at trial. How are you gonna overcome that? Are you gonna cross-examine Bret Baier on, you know, ‘What do you think he meant?’ Or are you going to put Donald Trump on the stand and say, ‘Would you like to clarify it?’ It’s a difficult situation.
Later in the interview, he said only two clients have ignored his advice about not discussing a case: Trump and Ice-T.
Watch above via CNN.
