Former President Donald Trump stubbornly rejected his legal team’s efforts last year to settle the classified documents case — and prevent him from being indicted by a federal grand jury, according to a bombshell report.
Christopher Kise, one of Trump’s attorneys in the fall of 2022, wanted to quietly approach the Justice Department to negotiate a deal with Attorney General Merrick Garland, The Washington Post reported, citing seven insiders.
Kise told others he hoped his overture would “take the temperature down” by promising a professional approach and the return of all the materials from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
But Trump rebuffed Kise and listened instead to the advice of Tom Fitton, head of the conservative group Judicial Watch, who told him he should fight to keep the documents, according to the paper.
Kise never approached prosecutors to pursue his plan, three people briefed on the matter told the outlet.
A special prosecutor, Jack Smith, was appointed a few months later – leading to Trump’s federal indictment Tuesday on 37 felony counts over his alleged mishandling and concealment of national security information.
He pleaded not guilty in Miami and vowed to fight the charges.
Kise, a former solicitor general of Florida, declined to comment to The Washington Post.
“President Trump has consistently been in full compliance with the Presidential Records Act, which is the only law that applies to Presidents and their records,” Trump’s presidential campaign Steven Cheung told the paper in a statement.
“In the course of negotiations over the return of the documents, President Trump told the lead DOJ official, ‘anything you need from us, just let us know.’ Sadly, the weaponized DOJ rejected this offer of cooperation and conducted an unnecessary and unconstitutional raid on the President’s home in order to inflict maximum political damage on the leading presidential candidate,” he added.
People with knowledge of the case also told the paper on condition of anonymity that Trump repeatedly rejected opportunities to avoid criminal charges and even misled his own advisers — telling them the boxes at his hideaway only contained newspaper clippings and clothes.
Some of his senior advisers even flew to Mar-a-Lago to beg him to return the materials, but he stood firm, the insiders told The Washington Post.
Fitton told the paper that he dined with Trump at his club that day before his first court appearance on the document charges.
“I saw him last night. He’s in a good mood. He’s serious and ready to fight under the law,” Fitton said.
He acknowledged he gave the advice to the former president but declined to discuss the details of their conversations.
Former White House chief of staff John Kelly told The Washington Post that Trump is “scared s–tless” over his legal predicament.
“For the first time in his life, it looks like he’s being held accountable. Up until this point in his life, it’s like, ‘I’m not going to pay you; take me to court.’ He’s never been held accountable before,” the former Trump aide told the paper.