Trump attorney rips 'politically motivated' indictment: 'Election interference at its best'
Trump attorney Alina Habba joined 'Fox News Sunday' to discuss the latest on the indictment over his handling of classified documents and the president's reaction to the news.
President Trump's attorney shut down the possibility of the former commander-in-chief accepting a plea deal, saying she could "never imagine" the possibility after he was indicted in connection with his handling of classified documents.
Alina Habba told Shannon Bream during "Fox News Sunday" that accepting a plea deal is "an admission of guilt" and Trump has "done nothing wrong."
"No, I could never imagine," Habba told Bream. "I know I would never advise that. Especially when he's not done anything wrong. You take a plea deal to make something go away. That's an admission of guilt. He would never admit guilt because there was nothing wrong with declassifying documents, taking documents with you…"
"The only thing that was wrong was the raid on his home and the complete dual-tier system of justice that we're seeing here when the Biden family is being treated completely differently than the Trump family," she continued. "So to plea is exactly what they would want."
TRUMP INDICTED ON FEDERAL CHARGES RELATED TO DOCUMENT HANDLING AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
Trump was indicted on 37 federal counts last week, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements, according to an unsealed copy of the indictment obtained by Fox News.
The indictment stemmed from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s months-long investigation, which was predicated by the FBI's raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The indictment states that Trump, as president, "had lawful access to the most sensitive classified documents and national defense information gathered and owned by the United States government, including information from the agencies that comprise the United States Intelligence Community and the United States Department of Defense."
Bream noted that if Trump is found guilty, he could face "decades" behind bars, pressing Habba on the president's demeanor surrounding the charges.
"I don't think he's thinking of it that way, and I don't really think that's a realistic way to think about this case," Habba responded. "He's done nothing wrong. He said that. This is completely politically motivated. It's election interference at its best by a political opponent. So to his credit, and the world should understand, an indictment is a one-sided document. He has a defense. The defense is real."
"He had the Presidential Records Act, which only he has in play. Hillary Clinton didn't have that. Biden didn't have that, and we'll put that defense on. The team he's going to have will be strong and knows exactly what they're doing."
Trump announced the indictment on his social media platform last week writing, "The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is "secured" by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time."
He is due to appear in a federal court in Miami on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Habba and other critics have doubled down on the fact the president has the right to declassify material under the jurisdiction of the Presidential Records Act, thus calling into question the validity of the charges.
"He has every right to have classified documents that he declassified under the Presidential Records Act," Habba said. "So, yes, they're making it sound like a five-alarm fire. It's not. It's a very simple thing that everybody, and we've seen numerous people able to take it, and frankly, he was the only one that could take classified documents that he declassified under the Presidential Records Act. People forget that."
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Fox News' Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson and Bill Mears contributed to this report.
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