Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that former President Donald Trump could be prosecuted for “willfulness in the destruction of documents” belonging to the United States under the Presidential Records Act.
Guest host John Berman said, “I want your take — the fact the National Archives is asking the Justice Department to investigate the former president’s handling of these White House records. Do you think there’s any possible criminal exposure, particularly if there are any classified documents he took to Mar-a-Lago as The New York Times is reporting tonight?”
Schiff said, “Well, first of all, I think they are absolutely right to make the referral to the Justice Department because there’s public reporting, and the archives may know more than this, that the president was repeatedly warned that he couldn’t destroy these documents, that he would be violating the law if he did so. And so it looks very willful. And if there’s evidence of potential willfulness in the destruction of documents, that is the kind of case if any case is going to be prosecuted might be prosecuted.”
He added, “If it were to happen, it’s a case like this where it appears to bow a willful decision. And the classified allegation is much more serious in my view. That is that Donald Trump brought to Mar-a-Lago in an un-secure location in boxes that others may have access to classified information. If that allegation proves, correct the Justice Department, in my view, will have to investigate.”
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