Rudy Giuliani had quite a lot to say on Sunday’s episode of the WABC77 radio show Uncovering the Truth with Rudy Giuliani & Dr. Maria Ryan, and one particular thing he said about former president Donald Trump stood out the most to us!
Rudy Giuliani Says Donald Trump Encouraged Him To Take Top-Secret Documents Home
On the show, Giuliani – who was once the 76-year-old twice-impeached former president‘s personal attorney – reflected on a moment early on in Trump’s presidency, whereby he was allegedly working on “vetting” some “very rich” people and going through their tax returns at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and Trump allegedly advised him to take some secret documents home with him!
When I was his lawyer, I mean, there was a period of time I was there like, uh, 10 straight days, he told me, ‘Oh, take them home with you. I’m not going to take Wilbur Ross’ tax returns home with me. I could misplace them!” @RudyGiuliani https://t.co/zzht1qM8Nh
— Jane (@PlaintanJane) January 17, 2023
“When I was his lawyer, I mean, there was a period of time I was there like, uh, 10 straight days,” Giuliani, 78, confessed. “I didn’t take, listen to this, this is my training on ‘top secret,’ I didn’t take them out of Mar-a-Lago,” he added.
“He told me, ‘Oh, take them home with you,'” Giuliani recalled of the past exchange with Trump, before confirming that some of the top-secret files are “very, very strange the way they’re put together” and “often are very small, but they contain a lot of information.”
READ MORE: Rudy Giuliani Could Lose His Law License Over False Election Claims
“I’m not going to take Wilbur Ross’ tax returns home with me. I could misplace them!” he exclaimed in relation to Ross who served as Commerce Secretary during the Trump administration, adding: “I – you know, I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, knowingly, and I never got caught – but I don’t remember ever taking a doc.”
The former New York City mayor confirmed that he would place documents in a small safe at his desk in Mar-a-Lago for him to work on the next day, and most definitely did *not* take them home, despite allegedly getting the then president’s permission to do so.
Donald Trump's Mishandling Of Documents
Trump's blasé approach to top-secret documents shouldn’t come as a shock following the FBI's August 8th 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, which resulted in a number of classified documents – some of which were marked 'secret' and 'top secret' being seized after he refused to turn them over to the National Archives.
The Department of Justice is currently investigating whether Trump broke federal laws – including the Espionage Act, which relates to the removal of information regarding the US's national defense and carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted – by mishandling the top-secret documents.
READ MORE: New York Judge Denies Donald Trump’s Motion To Dismiss $250M Lawsuit: 'Frivolous'
According to Business Insider, two other laws Trump is suspected of breaking are 18 USC § 2071, which "bars the concealment, removal, or mutilation generally of government records" and 18 USC § 1519, which "prohibits the destruction, alteration, or falsification of records 'with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter' within the jurisdiction of federal agencies or departments."
Conviction on the latter count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and has since claimed that all of the documents that were found were already declassified.
