0:08
appears to be in the final
0:09
stretch of his investigations
0:11
into former president Donald
0:13
Trump.
0:13
Smith has been looking into the
0:14
possible mishandling of
0:16
classified documents and efforts
0:17
to obstruct the 2020 election.
0:20
Now notable development this
0:23
week, Tim parlatore, one of
0:25
trump’s key attorneys, announced
0:28
he is leaving the team.
0:30
He worked on January 6th
0:31
investigation and played a key
0:32
role in the mar-a-lago documents
0:34
probe, including organizing
0:36
additional searches at trump
0:37
tower, bedminster and an office
0:39
in palm beach as well as a
0:40
Florida storage unit.
0:42
Parlatore also appeared before
0:44
the grand jury for several hours
0:46
back in December and Tim joins
0:48
me now.
0:49
Tim, thanks so much for being
0:50
here with us.
0:51
I think everybody wants to know
0:53
after the news this week, why
0:54
did you leave the former
0:56
president’s legal team?
0:57
>> So, as I said at the time, it
1:00
had nothing to do with the case
1:02
or the client.
1:03
The real reason is because there
1:06
are certain individuals that
1:06
made defending the president
1:08
much harder than it needed to
1:09
be.
1:10
In particular, there is one
1:11
individual who works for him,
1:14
Boris Epstein, who had really
1:16
done everything he could to try
1:18
to block us, to prevent us from
1:21
doing what we could to defend
1:23
the president, and ultimately it
1:25
got to a point where it’s
1:27
difficult enough fighting
1:28
against doj and in this case
1:31
special counsel, but when you
1:32
have people within the tent that
1:33
are also trying to undermine
1:34
you, block you, and really make
1:38
it so that I can’t do what I
1:40
know that I need to do as a
1:44
lawyer and when I am getting
1:46
into fights like that, that’s
1:49
detracting from what is
1:49
necessary to defend the client
1:51
and ultimately was not in the
1:53
client’s best interest.
1:54
So I made the decision to
1:55
withdraw.
1:56
>> Infighting is nothing new in
1:58
trump world.
1:58
Is there any specific incidents
2:00
of something a he did to, as you
2:02
say, prevent you from being able
2:04
to properly represent your
2:05
client?
2:05
>> Sure.
2:07
I mean, he served as kind of a
2:10
filter to present us from getting
2:12
information to client, getting
2:14
information from the client.
2:16
In my opinion, he was not very
2:17
honest with us or with the
2:18
client on certain things.
2:20
There were certain things like
2:21
the searches that he had
2:23
attempted to interfere with, and
2:25
then more recently, as we’re
2:27
coming down to the end of this
2:29
investigation where jack Smith
2:31
and ultimately Merrick Garland
2:32
is going to make a decision as
2:35
to what to do, we put together
2:38
our defense strategy to educate
2:40
Merrick Garland as to how best
2:41
to handle this matter, he was
2:44
preventing us from engaging in
2:46
that strategy.
2:46
>> You said that Boris tried to
2:48
prevent you from conducting
2:49
searches.
2:49
What searches?
2:50
>> The search at bedminster
2:55
initially.
2:56
There was a lot of pushback from
2:57
him.
2:57
He didn’t want us doing the
2:58
search.
2:59
And we had eventually overcome
3:00
him.
3:02
>> Why didn’t he want you doing
3:04
the search?
3:04
>> I don’t know.
3:05
You know, Boris is — you know,
3:08
he is a lawyer.
3:09
He spent about 18 months at a
3:11
big firm doing transactional
3:13
work and I think he thinks based
3:15
on that experience he knows
3:17
better than us.
3:19
>> You previously testified
3:20
before the grand jury in
3:22
December.
3:22
Some people speculated you
3:25
couldn’t represent the former
3:26
president because you’re a
3:27
witness.
3:28
What is your response?
3:29
>> That unfortunately is a lack
3:31
of understanding.
3:31
First of all, I was not
3:33
subpoenaed.
3:34
What that was so the original
3:35
subpoena to the office of the
3:39
former president, they wanted a
3:40
custodian of records to appear.
3:41
They really wanted is a staffer
3:44
from palm beach to talk about,
3:45
you know, what searches were
3:47
done so they could beat them up,
3:49
and ultimately there wasn’t
3:50
really a good person on the
3:52
staff to send.
3:53
So we made the decision, I made
3:54
the decision to go in myself and
3:57
to face the prosecutors and to
4:00
actually speak directly to the
4:01
grand jury and explain them what
4:02
was really going on here.
4:05
So as I went in and I talked
4:06
about what we, as a legal team,
4:09
had done in searching all the
4:11
properties, that doesn’t make me
4:13
a material witness or anything
4:14
like that.
4:15
So there is no conflict.
4:19
There is no issue or — I would
4:20
expect to ever be called back in
4:21
there.
4:22
In fact, there were a couple of
4:24
opportunities where I offered to
4:25
come back.
4:26
The prosecutors didn’t want me
4:28
back.
4:28
So it really has nothing to do
4:30
with that.
4:31
>> So you recently sent a letter
4:32
with the other attorneys on the
4:34
legal team to the house
4:36
select — the house permanent
4:38
select committee on
4:39
intelligence.
4:39
>> Yes.
4:40
>> One of the arguments you make
4:41
is the reason the documents
4:42
enended up in mar-a-lago because
4:43
at the end of any
4:46
administration, particularly
4:47
this one, it’s chaotic and
4:48
specifically you said that the
4:50
fact that these ended up at
4:51
mar-a-lago is, quote, indicative
4:53
of the staff’s packing process
4:55
and not any criminal intent by
4:57
former president trump.
5:02
The problem is, the former
5:03
president and his allies and one
5:04
of your fellow attorneys have
5:06
all publicly contradicted that
5:08
explanation for how these things
5:11
ended up down at mar-a-lago.
5:12
At least four official
5:14
explanations that they have put
5:15
down about the status of these
5:16
documents.
5:16
I want to go through them
5:19
chronologically.
5:20
Starting after the search
5:20
warrant as executed at
5:21
mar-a-lago some of the president
5:22
Putin it’s Al lace came out and
5:24
said he issued a sweeping
5:28
declassification order on
5:29
multiple occasions so that the
5:29
documents removed from the oval
5:31
office were deemed declassified
5:32
when he removed them.
5:33
Did you ever see any evidence of
5:36
any such order?
5:37
>> I never saw the order.
5:42
You know, that would not be
5:43
something that we would have
5:44
access to, if it was a written
5:46
order as opposed to an oral
5:48
order.
5:48
I didn’t see that.
5:49
>> So the former president then
5:52
a couple weeks later said this
5:53
to Sean hannity.
5:57
>> If you are the president of
5:58
the United States, you can
6:00
declassify by saying it’s
6:01
declassified, even by thinking
6:02
about it.
6:03
>> So the letter says that he
6:07
wasn’t really aware of these
6:08
documents being placed because
6:09
it was chaotic, they all were
6:11
shipped to mar-a-lago.
6:13
How can you declassify something
6:15
with your mind if you don’t know
6:17
that it’s in one of these boxes?
6:20
>> These are two unrelated
6:23
concepts.
6:24
So there is the issue of
6:25
classification or
6:27
declassification.
6:28
That’s separate and apart from
6:29
the issue of document management
6:31
and what goes in the boxes.
6:33
One of the things that we were
6:34
trying to explain there is that
6:36
the processes that are in play
6:38
in the white house, in the oval
6:42
office, they don’t match the
6:43
same level of, you know, care,
6:46
if you will, that are done in
6:47
the intelligence agencies and in
6:48
the military.
6:49
And so marked documents, whether
6:52
classified or key classified,
6:54
and unclassified documents get
6:57
mixed in.
6:57
This is not just about when
6:58
packed up to leave.
6:59
This is about the four years
7:01
while they are in office.
7:03
Now, since we submitted this
7:04
letter we found out that the
7:06
archivist testified that every
7:10
administration going back to
7:10
Reagan has had the exact same
7:12
issue.
7:12
That’s what we were talking
7:14
about there.
7:14
So the procedures for
7:17
declassification is a separate
7:18
issue from how these boxes were
7:20
packed and how the documents
7:22
were kept during that four
7:24
years.
7:25
>> Now, we know from CNN
7:26
reporting this week jack Smith,
7:26
the special counsel, is
7:28
interested in this process and
7:32
especially how much your former
7:32
client knew and understood about
7:34
the process.
7:35
A fellow attorney who signed
7:36
this letter told Erin Burnett
7:38
earlier this week.
7:40
>> He is aware of a bureaucratic
7:43
process that can be used.
7:45
At the end of his presidency he
7:48
relied on constitutional
7:48
authority as commander-in-chief
7:50
which is to take documents and
7:51
take them to mar-a-lago while
7:53
still president as we was at the
7:55
time and to effectively
7:58
declassify and personalize them.
7:59
He talked about declassifying
8:00
them but he didn’t need to.
8:02
>> So it appears that he is
8:04
saying that during the
8:06
presidency former president
8:06
trump followed the process for
8:09
declassifying but towards the
8:10
end of the presidency he did
8:13
not.
8:13
Does that contradict what you
8:14
guys told congress?
8:15
>> It doesn’t because again we
8:17
are talking about document
8:18
management, not
8:20
declassification.
8:21
And when it comes to all the
8:22
declassification procedures, one
8:24
thing you have to remember, when
8:25
you get a security clearance,
8:28
top secret security clearance,
8:29
you get the training and the
8:30
forms that you have to fill out
8:32
and agreements to sign.
8:35
Presidents don’t get that.
8:36
Elected officials, they don’t
8:38
have security clearances.
8:38
They gain access to this
8:40
material simply by virtue of the
8:43
fact that they were elected.
8:44
So when you’re the president,
8:45
you are not actually going in
8:46
the log book and doing the
8:48
entries to declassify something.
8:50
You’re just saying to your
8:52
staff, hey, this document here,
8:53
I want declassified.
8:54
Then you kinda take it with you.
8:57
Now, should the staff have
8:58
followed certain procedures?
9:01
Sure.
9:01
But again declassification
9:02
procedures is one of the things
9:04
that we were not dealing with in
9:05
this let early.
9:06
And in fact I put a footnote in
9:08
there that we weren’t dealing
9:11
with declassification, simple
9:15
document management, moving,
9:16
store and what narrow procedures
9:19
there are upon the
9:20
administration change with the
9:22
presidential records act.
9:23
>> So we are talking about the
9:24
presidential records.
9:25
Record created during the
9:27
administration that belong to
9:28
the government and should be
9:30
returned and classified.
9:32
Last question before we break
9:34
for a minute.
9:34
Is there any evidence that the
9:36
former president declassified
9:37
the classified documents that
9:38
were found in the boxes?
9:41
>> We don’t have an inventory of
9:42
what those documents are to be
9:44
able to chase that down.
9:48
So once doj gives an inventory
9:50
so we would know actually what’s