Bret Baier Confronts Trump With His Own Words About Classified Documents

Fox News host Bret Baier confronted former President Donald Trump with his own words about a classified defense document he allegedly kept at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Trump sat down with Baier for a one-on-one interview Monday evening, in which Baier pressed him about the Department of Justice (DOJ)'s investigation into whether he mishandled classified documents after leaving office in January 2021. Last Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 charges in the case and has accused prosecutors of engaging in a politically-motivated, unfair investigation.

During the interview, Baier pressed Trump about an audio recording in which the former president allegedly admitted to having a classified document about an attack plan on another country prepared by the U.S. military.

"This is specifically a quote. You were quoted on the recording saying, 'The document was secret,' adding that you could've declassified it while you were president, but 'now I can't. You know this is still secret, highly confidential.' And the indictment says...you showed it to people there that day. You say on tape that you can't declassify it, so why have it?" Baier asked.

Trump disputed that he was in possession of the military document after leaving office, instead arguing that the documents referred to in the indictment were merely newspaper and magazine clippings.

"When I said that I couldn't declassify it now, that's because I wasn't president," Trump said. "There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things. It may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn't have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles."

Fox News also played several clips showing Trump's previous statements about former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who has faced scrutiny for working on government matters on a private server.

"In my administration, I am going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law," Trump said in one video from August 18, 2016.

Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, responded to Trump's interview remarks, tweeting: "Well that's that. Trump just confessed to Fox News that he stole and shared classified materials."

Despite the audio recording alleged in the indictment, Trump has maintained that any documents found at Mar-a-Lago were declassified when he was president. He has claimed he had the authority to declassify files just by thinking about it, without going through the formal declassification process.

Critics have raised concerns about the audio tape described in the indictment. Some of his 2024 challengers, many of whom have rallied behind the former president, have issued criticisms over the tape. Former South Carolina Governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley described the actions outlined in the indictment as "reckless."

Update 06/19/23, 7:54 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.