'Any lie will do for MAGA dimwits': Experts slam Trump for claiming 'absolute and unquestioned right' to docs (AlterNetlink): Twice-indicted former President Donald Trump addressed attendees at the recent conservative Turning Point USA Conference in Florida.
After a New York jury charged the 2024 MAGA hopeful in May for sexual assault against journalist E. Jean Carroll, Trump was indicted again, NBC reports, "in connection with his mishandling of more than 100 classified documents that were discovered last year at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, making the twice-impeached former commander-in-chief the first former president to face federal criminal charges."During his Turning Point USA speech, the former president said, "They indicted me. They think of it. You don't have to be a lawyer to understand those words. That's as simple as it gets. They indicted me. In other words, whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the absolute and unquestioned right to do so. This is a law that was passed inside. And that's the law, and that's the way it is, and it couldn't be more clear."Last month, the National Archives released a statement saying, the Presidential Records Act"requires that all records created by Presidents (and Vice-Presidents) be turned over to" the National Archives and Records Administration"at the end of their administrations."
A slew of journalists and legal experts immediately debunked Trump's claim via Twitter. Vanity Fair special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast commented: "I don't think Trump believes this."James Surowiecki, editor at Yale Review, said: "Trump is going to get convicted of multiple crimes literally because he listened to [conservative activist and Judicial Watch President] Tom Fitton's terrible legal advice."
Doug Thompson, political reporter and enterprise editor at Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette added: "The presidential records act was passed specifically and explicitly to prevent this."
Former CATO Institute senior fellow Julian Sanchez wrote: "It takes some real chutzpah to slap the label 'unquestioned' on a position literally nobody but that weirdo hamhock from Judicial Watch thinks is correct."
David Lazarus, consumer reporter at KTLA, said: "He either doesn't understand the law or is lying."
CNN senior political commentator Adam Kinzinger added: "Of all the not true things, this is the not truest."
Washington Post investigative journalist Jonathan Greenberg replied: "Every hour brings new proof that any lie will do for MAGA dimwits & the fascist media propaganda networks that amplify the GOP's bottomless deceit as 'news!'"
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