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Former President Donald Trump doubled down on his claim that he did nothing wrong by having classified documents at his Palm Beach estate, after former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr said the alleged mishandling of classified documents presents Trump's most formidable legal challenge.
The former president is being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) this past November, for documents discovered last August at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The FBI recovered the documents in a highly publicized search. Meanwhile, Trump has maintained his innocence in the case.
"I've said all along that of the cases out there right now, the one I'd be most concerned about, if I were the president, is the Mar-a-Lago document case," Barr told CBS News' Catherine Herridge on Thursday.
"It's very clear that he had no business having those documents," the former attorney general added. "He was given a long time to send them back and he was—they were subpoenaed. And if there's any games being played there, he's going to be very exposed."
Taking to Truth Social on Saturday the former president responded and wrote, "I did NOTHING WRONG! When are they going to start talking about [President Joe] Biden's documents, and the documents of almost all other modern day Presidents?"
Dave Aronberg, State Attorney for Palm Beach County, where Mar-a-Lago is located, told Newsweek on Saturday that he agrees with Barr's comments saying, "The greatest existential threat to Trump's future freedom lies in the Mar-a-Lago case. It is the strongest case on any level. There is a direct tie to Trump and criminality. Trump believes these documents are his property and the law says otherwise."
Meanwhile, both Biden and Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence face investigations into classified documents discovered in their possession.
A "small number" of classified documents were found by Biden's lawyers on November 2, 2022, in his former office, the White House said. The documents, according to Biden's lawyers, were discovered in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement as they were clearing out the offices. Biden worked at the think tank after his role as vice president under former President Barack Obama ended in 2017 until launching his 2020 presidential bid.
Biden's attorney also confirmed that even more classified documents had been found in Biden's possession inside the president's Delaware home in January.
A CNN exclusive report said that Pence's lawyer discovered "about a dozen" classified documents at Pence's home and turned the documents over to the FBI. Fox News reported that Pence alerted the National Archives of a "small number" of "potential classified documents" in his home and the documents were immediately put into a safe once discovered.
CNN also reported on Thursday that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) informed Trump that 16 records would be handed over to Smith, allegedly showing that the former president and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president.
Aronberg said this development is "significant" as it shows the former president's intent on keeping the documents in his possession.
About the writer
Anna Commander is a Newsweek Editor and writer based in Florida. Her focus is reporting on crime, weather and breaking ... Read more