Jim Jordan’s CNN Interview Over Trump Indictment Goes Off the Rails: ‘What You’re Saying Doesn’t Make Sense!’

Republican Congressman Jim Jordan is standing by Donald Trump in the face of his 37-count indictment for mishandling classified documents, falsely claiming in a heated CNN interview with Dana Bash that Trump had the right to handle the documents “however he wants.”

“If he wants to store material in a box in a bathroom, in a box on the stage, he can do that,” the representative from Ohio said.

The indictment, filed by Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith, accuses Trump of violating the Espionage Act by holding on to classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago compound that included sensitive information on the United States’ nuclear stockpile and potential vulnerabilities to foreign attacks, among other national security topics.

The indictment also cites audio recordings of Trump sharing documents on a plan to attack Iran with people within his circle who did not have clearance to see them and acknowledging that he was not allowed to show them such files.

Despite this evidence, Jordan, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, insisted during his interview with Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump had declassified the documents. When pressed for evidence by Bash, he simply insisted, “I go on the president’s word.”

“He said he declassified this material,” Jordan added. “He can put it wherever he wants and handle it however he wants.”

“But he says, point blank, on tape as president, ‘I could have declassified it. Now I can’t,’” Bash said. “He says in his own words. It’s on tape as part of this indictment that he did not declassify the material. Therefore, it is classified.”

“Dana, saying he could have is not the same as saying he didn’t,” insisted Jordan.

“But he’s saying point blank in this audio tape he did not declassify it. What you’re saying just doesn’t make sense on its face!” Bash exclaimed.

Jordan’s defense of Trump ran in sharp contrast to Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr, who called the indictment “very, very damning” in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

“He’s not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has. They have to be in the custody of the archivist. He had no right to maintain them and retain them,” Barr said.

Credit: The Wrap