Lawyers for Donald Trump wanted to “take the temperature down” and reach a settlement with the Department of Justice to avert charges, but the former president reportedly rejected the idea.
Attorney Christopher Kise advised Mr. Trump to approach Attorney General Merrick Garland about an off-ramp in which they turned over all the requested documents, but Mr. Trump took a tougher stance, according to a report in The Washington Post, which cited persons briefed on the matter.
Mr. Trump was arraigned Tuesday on a 37-count indictment alleging he unlawfully stored classified documents about nuclear secrets and other matters at his Florida estate in Mar-a-Lago and obstructed efforts to return them to the National Archives. He pleaded not guilty at this arraignment on Tuesday.
The Post report says the reluctance to settle was part of a series of instances in which Mr. Trump flouted investigators, returning only some of the boxes requested by archivists or making his own advisers believe the boxes contained items such as newspaper clippings.
Instead, Mr. Trump relied on those who said he had a legal right to retain the records, and the indictment says at one point he suggested a lawyer could pluck out any super-sensitive documents as investigators circled.
Mr. Trump has maintained that stance in public, saying his former role as president meant he had declassified the documents and was entitled to them. He says the probe is a witch hunt designed to thwart his political ambitions and amounts to selective prosecution after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton avoided charges for her use of a private email server.
Mr. Trump is campaigning for president as he faces months of court appearances and motions.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who has ruled in his favor in the past, is set to oversee his federal case in Miami.
But some legal experts say special counsel Jack Smith could charge Mr. Trump in New Jersey based on allegations the former president held classified documents at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.
Legal experts Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann, writing in The Atlantic, said New Jersey charges could be an end-run for prosecutors that puts the case in less favorable terrain for the president.
“The legal uncertainties that surround bringing charges in Florida for dissemination of national-security secrets in Bedminster leaves open the possibility that charges might yet be brought in New Jersey — a backup plan of sorts for Smith,” Mr. Goodman and Mr. Weissmann wrote.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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