Trump’s Slippery, Shifting Self Defense in the Documents Case

The former president has offered a number of explanations to defend himself against charges that he mishandled classified documents. Experts say none of them is likely to hold up in court – except perhaps in the court of public opinion.

There was a reasonable explanation as to why Donald Trump did not fully comply with a federal subpoena last year requiring the return of sensitive documents to the government, the former president told Fox News in an interview that aired last week: He had simply been too busy.

“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out. These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things: golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes. There were many things,” he told Fox News, referring to boxes he kept at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, and which were later found to contain classified materials.

“I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen,” Trump explained.

Aside from acting as an admission that he had not, in fact, complied with the subpoena, the defense was a new one for the former president, adding to a list of explanations that Trump has trotted out since the Justice Department's investigation into his mishandling of classified documents was make public – a list that has shifted and changed over time as the investigation has progressed.

None of Trump’s explanations appear to approach a solid legal argument, and he is scrambling to put a team of lawyers in place before a midsummer filing deadline in the criminal case against him. The Justice Department earlier this month charged Trump with 37 felony counts related to his retention of national defense information after leaving office, and his willful obstruction of justice – including his defiance of the subpoena last year.

In the early months of the investigation, as the probe appeared to center on classified materials Trump had improperly kept in his possession after he left office, Trump’s main defense centered on the issue of classification.