One of Donald Trump's former lawyers had said that prosecutors do appear to have a strong case against the Republican in the classified documents case.
Tim Parlatore, who left the former president's legal team in May, appeared on CNN on June 9 to discuss the indictment against Trump. During the broadcast, host Jake Tapper said the indictment against Trump "looks really bad" for the former president based on the amount of evidence and detail it contains, including transcripts and photographs.
Trump faces 37 charges over allegations he illegally retained sensitive and secret materials after he left the White House, and then obstructed the federal attempt to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago resort. He has denied any wrongdoing.
When Tapper suggested that the indictment was "pretty strong" for prosecutors, Parlatore replied: "It appears to be. I am curious to see if the evidence fully backs it up, this is an allegation."
"There are certain legal hurdles that they're [prosecutors] going to have to get over with regard to, you know, interpretations of the Presidential Records Act, things like that, that I'm sure will be properly briefed and argued before the court," Parlatore added.
The indictment against Trump was released on June 9, revealing that the former president had been charged with 31 counts of willful retention of classified documents under the Espionage Act, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to investigators.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing in connection to Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe, including the disputed claim that he had declassified all the materials in question before he left office in January 2021.
The indictment said that among the documents which Trump retained and moved to his Mar-a-Lago resort included "defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack."
Included in the indictment were photos which showed boxes of documents with classified materials being stored in several areas in Mar-a-Lago, including a bathroom, Trump's bedroom, and an office space.
The indictment also contains a transcript of a meeting Trump had at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July 2021, with his aides and two people who were writing a biography of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. During the meeting, Trump appears to admit to retaining a classified military document about a potential attack on Iran, and that the former president no longer had the power to declassify it.
According to the transcript, Trump told those at the meeting "this is secret information. Look, at this."
Trump then adds: "See as president I could have declassified. Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret."
During his CNN interview, Parlatore suggested that it is "a little bit more open to interpretation" as to whether Trump actually had a classified document on him at the July 2021 meeting.
Parlatore also agreed with Tapper that if the allegations that Trump showed the secret document to someone who did not have clearance to view, it would be a major issue for the former president "if true."
Trump's legal team has been contacted for comment via email.
