(NewsNation) — In a speech to supporters at his New Jersey golf club, former President Donald Trump said he “hadn’t had a chance to go through all the boxes.” NewsNation host Dan Abrams said he thinks it was the “single most important thing that he (Trump) said today.”
After his arraignment in Miami, Trump aired his grievances to supporters at the Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey and gave them a potential preview to his legal defense.
“I hadn’t had a chance to go through all the boxes. It’s a long tedious job, takes a long time, which I was prepared to do. But I have a very busy life,” Trump said of the materials transferred from the White House to Mar-a-Lago and later seized by investigators.
Abrams described Trump’s deniability of what was inside the boxes as a critical piece of information connected to the indictment.
“The reason that is so significant is because prosecutors would say that they have evidence to show that, that’s not true. That they have evidence to show that he was directing what was happening with the boxes that he was talking about, the specifics of what was in the boxes, et cetera,” Abrams explained.
Trump claims he had a right to sift through the boxes and separate his personal records from government documents. He also called the indictment “one of the most outrageous and vicious legal theories ever put forward in an American court of law.”
Former Watergate prosecutor Jon Sale said if he was providing legal representation for Trump, he would not want him to talk publicly about the case.
“It can all be used against him,” Sale said. “He’s going to say these things, then the government is going to turn around, they’re going to play that for the jury and then they’re going to show with testimony and possibly (…) emails that it’s false.”
Sale continued: “Let him (Trump) talk. He’s entitled to defend himself. He’s entitled to, if he wants, make himself the victim. He’s entitled to do all of that stuff, but he just shouldn’t talk about the case.”
Meanwhile, Republican allies of the former president have rallied behind him, some suggesting the indictment can only strengthen Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
At the New Jersey event, MyPillow businessman Mike Lindell said he considers the indictment “a blessing” because he thinks it will boost Trump’s poll numbers.
Others say the indictment offers the “possibility” Trump will bring an end to Trump’s candidacy.
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said: “I think he ends up eventually dropping out of the race.”
The former president entered a not guilty plea Tuesday to 37 federal charges, including 31 under the Espionage Act for allegedly mishandling classified documents.
According to the indictment, investigators recovered documents including sensitive national security information about the military and U.S. nuclear weapons, as well as military contingency plans and correspondence involving foreign leaders.
Trump is the first former president to face federal charges and claimed “this day will go down in infamy.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
