Donald Trump's claim that he "didn't have to" hand over classified documents that were being sought under federal subpoena has been leaped upon as proof he is admitting wrongdoing.
In a Fox News town hall with Laura Ingraham, Trump was asked why he didn't save himself "a lot of trouble" by returning the sensitive and top secret materials the government had asked for, instead of retaining them at his Mar-a-Lago—resulting in the FBI search at his Florida home in August 2022.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 federal charges under Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation over allegations he illegally hoarded classified materials after he left office in January 2021, and then obstructed a federal attempt to retrieve them.
In response to Ingraham's question, Trump claimed that he did not need to hand over the documents that the federal government had subpoenaed, and also suggested they were safe at his Mar-a-Lago resort, unlike the sensitive materials discovered at President Joe Biden's Delaware home.
"First of all, I didn't have to hand them over. But second of all I would have done that, we were talking, and then all of a sudden they raided Mar-a-Lago," Trump said.
"They said could you put an extra lock on the door, we showed them where they were, unlike being under a Corvette and a little garage with the door open all the time. We were surrounded all the time by many secret service agents, we had secret service all over Mar-a-Lago, you couldn't take anything out."
A number of social media users have now suggested that Trump's claim that he "didn't have to" return the classified documents could be used by Smith's team as evidence against the former president at his trial, which is currently scheduled to begin in May.
Bradley P. Moss, a lawyer who specializes in national security, posted on X, formerly Twitter, sharing a clip of Trump's remarks alongside the words: "Smith: Your Honor, the Government introduces Exhibit '1' for the record. [Judge Aileen] Cannon: Exhibit is admitted. Smith: Your Honor, the Government rests."
