On Sunday, Former President Donald Trump branded the 37-count federal indictment he faces as nothing more than a “distraction” from the latest bribery allegations that have been levied against President Joe Biden — while continuing to aim at his former attorney general William Barr for not backing him up over the classified documents case.
Trump said he doubted it was a “coincidence” that he was charged for allegedly storing classified governments files at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate at the same time as Republicans revealed more details were revealed regarding an accusation by an FBI informant that Biden took part in a $5 million bribery scheme that involved the Ukrainian company Burisma.
“It’s to cover up a massive crime being revealed by Republicans in the House,” said Trump on an episode of “The Roger Stone Show.”
“It’s a distraction,” Trump continued. “The indictment is a disgrace…And it was put out at a time when they found horrible things about the Biden family.”
Former President Trump also said the new charges against him were “unpatriotic.”
He then slammed former AG Barr, who said earlier Sunday that he believed his former boss was “toast” after he read the indictment.
“The government acted responsively. It was Donald J. Trump who acted irresponsibly,” said Barr. “They’re solid counts. Even if half of this is true, he’s toast.”
Trump insisted that nothing is further from the truth and labeled Barr as a “coward who didn’t do his job.”
“He was gutless. He was desperately afraid of being impeached,” claimed Trump about his former loyalist’s White House exit.
The Republican presidential frontrunner also labeled federal prosecutors as “thugs” for making the allegation that he mishandled the documents — including paperwork detailing America’s nuclear and conventional weapons programs, potential weak points in the U.S. defenses as well as plans to respond to a foreign attack.
Along with slamming the indictment, the former president urged his supporters to join a protest planned for Tuesday outside the federal court building in Miami, where he is set to appear for his arraignment on the charges.
“We need strength in our country. Our country is being taken away from us,” said the former president. “Everyone is afraid to do anything. They have to go out and protest peacefully.”
Indictment was filed the same day it was released that Burisma exec allegedly paid President Biden $5 million
The first-of-its-kind federal case filed against a former or sitting president was filed on the same day GOP Representatives Marjorie Taylor Taylor Greene of Georgia and Anna Paulina Luna revealed that Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky allegedly told an FBI source that he had paid $5 million to both Hunter Biden and his dad who was then Vice President in an attempt to shake off a corruption investigation.
There [were] two separate transactions, one that went to Joe Biden for $5 million, one that went to Hunter Biden for $5 million,” said Luna. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Joe Biden is guilty of bribery.”
President Biden dismissed the allegations as “a bunch of malarkey.”
The 49-page indictment that was filed against former President Trump in Miami federal court Thursday includes one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of scheming to conceal a document or record and 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information.
The federal government alleges that Trump stored the boxes containing the documents at his Palm Beach property, including in “a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room,” according to the released indictment.
It is also alleged he showed off the material during a July 2021 incident where he allegedly displayed a “plan of attack” against Iran prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, General Mark Milley.
