Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the Department of Justice had “no choice” but to raid former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate to recover classified documents.
Guest-host Terry Moran asked, “You mentioned the former President, Donald Trump. Let’s talk about the search of Mar-a-Lago and the legal battle that’s come out. Chris, call on your experience on that. The judge in this case, or in the case that the Trump team brought has appointed a special master to look over all of the material seized out of Mar-a-Lago. The Justice Department is appealing. Former Attorney General Bill Barr said that that was a deeply flawed ruling. What do you make of it and the justice department’s chances?”
Christie said, “Look, I think the Justice Department’s chances are pretty good. I think they are because their main thrust is covered by executive privilege. There is only one executive serving the privilege. The current executive is Joe Biden. A previous executive can’t assert executive privilege. They’re not executive any longer. Biden will not assert executive privilege over the documents. I think the idea that some are attorney-client privilege is going to be a bit of a reach. I think they are going to have to show a basis for that claim. For one, I think DOJ has a good chance on appeal.”
He added, “I remember all the hysteria when this first search was done. I was on the show saying we should wait and see why DOJ did this. It’s not only the nature of the documents but the timeline. This has been 16 months that the Department of Justice has been saying, please, asking nicely, negotiating with his attorneys, taking up partial production, seeing a non-response to a subpoena. They had no choice, in my view, but to go in and take them because of the nature of the documents.”
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