Romney on Trump Indictment: Trump Brought This on Himself | National Review 6/17/23, 7:42 PM

NATIONAL REVIEW | THE CORNER | LAW & THE COURTS

Romney: Trump Brought

Indictment Over Classified
Documents on Himself

Donald Trump shakes hands with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in Bedminster, N.J., November 19,
2016. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

By JOHN MCCORMACK
June 9, 2023 11:39 AM

While most Republicans are rallying behind Donald Trump following the news that he will be indicted for

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Romney on Trump Indictment: Trump Brought This on Himself | National Review 6/17/23, 7:42 PM

taking classified documents to Mar a Lago, Utah GOP senator Mitt Romney says in a statement that Trump
brought the indictment on himself:

“Like all Americans, Mr. Trump is entitled to the presumption of

innocence. The government has the burden of proving its charges beyond
a reasonable doubt and securing a unanimous verdict by a South Florida
jury.

“By all appearances, the Justice Department and special counsel have
exercised due care, affording Mr. Trump the time and opportunity to avoid
charges that would not generally have been afforded to others.

“Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking
classified documents, but by refusing to simply return them when given
numerous opportunities to do so.

“These allegations are serious and if proven, would be consistent with his
other actions offensive to the national interest, such as withholding
defensive weapons from Ukraine for political reasons and failing to
defend the Capitol from violent attack and insurrection.”

CNN reports that there is an audio recording of Trump acknowledging that he kept classified documents about
attacking on Iran:

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Romney on Trump Indictment: Trump Brought This on Himself | National Review 6/17/23, 7:42 PM

“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump says,
according to the transcript.

CNN obtained the transcript of a portion of the meeting where Trump is

discussing a classified Pentagon document about attacking Iran. In the
audio recording, which CNN previously reported was obtained by
prosecutors, Trump says that he did not declassify the document he’s
referencing, according to the transcript.

[…]

Trump continues: “All sorts of stuff – pages long, look. Wait a minute, let’s
see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you
know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret
information. Look, look at this.”

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