CNN’s Dana Bash and Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) threw down in an intense battle over Donald Trump’s legal peril now that he has been indicted for mishandling classified documents.
Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, squared off with Bash on Sunday to address the 37 criminal counts Trump faces for obstruction, conspiracy, and illegally retaining classified documents. The congressman began by shrugging off the indictment, citing Trump’s authority (while he was still president) to declassify these documents and decide upon the access to the contents therein.
Bash quickly challenged Jordan on the indictment’s evidence that Trump admitted to possessing sensitive materials that he — as former president — no longer held the power to declassify
Trump, according to the indictment, was caught on tape discussing a classified document outlining a plan to attack Iran that he had taken with him when he left the White House — a tape in which Trump acknowledged he could not show the document to guests he was conversing with.
Jordan ignored this part of the indictment, and claimed Trump declassified everything he had. When pressed for evidence to support his claim, Jordan said “I go on the president’s word.”
The congressman railed against the “political operation” by special counsel Jack Smith, but Bash continued to press him over the recording of Trump saying he could have declassified the documents he had, but he was no longer capable of doing so. She also interrogated Jordan on whether he thought the documents were truly secure, given how they were scattered around Trump’s property.
Bash observed that Jordan merely took Trump at his word in order to dismiss the obstruction charge, and from there, the debate spun off the rails:
(Excerpt) Read more in: Mediaite
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