Laura Ingraham Asks Trump a Tough Question, Triggering Him

When asked by Fox News pundit Laura Ingraham why he didn’t simply turn over government documents when asked, Donald Trump falsely insisted that he “didn’t have to.”

Trump’s comments came during a Fox News town hall event hosted by Ingraham. 

“Why didn’t you just hand them over when they were requested, though?” Ingraham asked about the infamous government documents in Trump’s possession. “I mean, they requested them, you could’ve just handed them over and probably saved yourself a lot of trouble.”

“First of all, I didn’t have to hand them over,” an indignant Trump replied. “Second of all, I would’ve done that. We were talking and then all of a sudden, they raided Mar-A-Lago.” 

Trump’s answer was characteristically dishonest. 

Trump, like every other former president, is obligated to return government documents that are not personal records. 

Presidential daily briefs, national defense reports, and other documents of the type found in Trump’s possession do not qualify as personal records despite Trump’s baseless insistence, as even conservative scholars like Bill Barr, Trump’s ex-Attorney General, have persistently noted.

Additionally, the National Archives and Justice Department worked quietly with Trump for more than a year to facilitate the return of the documents, which contained sensitive national defense information.

After developing reason to believe that Trump was concealing documents and obstructing justice, the FBI requested and received a lawfully obtained search warrant which allowed them to search Mar-A-Lago, Trump’s home.

These events culminated in Trump being indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith and a Florida grand jury for the willful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

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