Trump and his allies try to spin classified documents case with myths and misinformation
Former President Donald Trump stuck to a familiar script at a campaign event held hours after he pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a federal court to 37 felony counts connected to his handling of classified documents.
Echoing the arguments he and his allies have made in news interviews, speeches and social media posts, Trump attempted to paint the indictment as “election interference” and “political persecution.”
“I did everything right and they indicted me,” he told supporters gathered at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Tuesday night.
Ever since the former president revealed last week that he had been indicted, he and his allies have put forward a number of legal and political arguments, and proliferated many falsehoods about the process. Some Trump surrogates have incorrectly claimed that he had declassified the documents and so did nothing wrong, while others have said that even if he did mishandle certain records, he’s not the first to do so.
Trump also repeated on Tuesday his criticism of the Department of Justice’s decision to charge him under the Espionage Act.
“The Espionage Act
