(NewsNation) — Did former President Donald Trump really believe he could hang onto sensitive White House documents after losing the election? And was he given advice to that effect?

Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, told former President Donald Trump that it was “a mistake to give his (White House) records” to the National Archives, and that his team should “never have let the Archives ‘strong-arm’ him into returning them, according to three sources familiar with the matter,” according to a CNN report.

Political analyst Bill Kristol says Fitton’s comments don’t add up.

Kristol, a guest on NewsNation’s “Banfield” on Thursday, said Trump “wasn’t getting any legal advice from any reputable conservative lawyer that he could hang on to those documents,” and noted that Fitton isn’t an attorney.

Fitton argued that the records “belonged to Trump,” citing a 2012 court case involving Judicial Watch, which he said “gave the former president authority to do what he wanted with records from his own term in office.”

“You can’t just decide what you want to take from the White House. The idea that he didn’t know” he could not take documents “is ludicrous,” Kristol added.

Kristol noted that the questions remain: “Why did he take those documents?” and “why was he so reluctant to give them back?”