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Ariana Baio
Aug 15, 2022
FBI recovered ‘top secret’ documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home
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'Nobody is above the law' does not apply to the president, according to the disgraced former president Richard Nixon. And it's a view one Fox News host appears to endorse.
On Sunday's episode of Fox & Friends, co-host Will Cain used a quote from Nixon to justify Donald Trump keeping classified documents at his home in Mar-a-Lago.
According to reports, the documents seized by the FBI at Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago were considered classified.
Speaking with guest and former secretary of education Bill Bennett, Cain brought up a quote from Nixon who famously resigned after the Watergate scandal.
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"When it comes to classified documents, famously, President Nixon said 'if the president does it, then it is not illegal' is that not truly the standard when it comes to classified documents?" Cain asked Bennett.
Bennett agreed and added that the president can declassify documents.
Bennett alluded that the FBI's raid could have been done with bad intentions to find things related to the House Select Committee's January 6th investigation.
\u201cFox host defends Trump\u2019s handling of top secret documents: \u201cPresident Nixon said, that if the president does it, that it is not illegal. Is that not truly the standard when it comes to classified documents?\u201d https://t.co/xGTOhrP52O\u201d— Media Matters (@Media Matters) 1660491400
As president, Trump would have been allowed to declassify the documents seized but it is unclear if he did so before taking the records with him to his home in Mar-a-Lago.
Should the former president have kept classified documents at his home, he could be charged with violating the Presidential Records Act or the Espionage Act.
\u201cIn their motion to unseal the warrant, The DOJ referred to this as the:\n\u201cPRE-INDICTMENT STAGE\u201d \nof their espionage investigation into Trump.\u201d— Duty To Warn \ud83d\udd09 (@Duty To Warn \ud83d\udd09) 1660393579
The Espionage Act prevents people, even those granted access to national security documents, from "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information".
Ironically, the Presidential Records Act was created after Nixon's Watergate scandal in an effort to create more transparency between the public and the president.
According to the Presidential Record Act, the president must turn over any 'official business' material to the National Archives at the end of the administration for preservation.
Since the FBI searched Trump's home for the classified documents, many Republicans have criticized the move as strategic as candidates begin announcing their intent to run, including Bennett.
On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland gave an impromptu speech indicating the Department of Justice had the grounds to search Trump's home and defended the FBI among the backlash.
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