An attorney for former President Trump proposed trying to settle the classified documents case with the Justice Department (DOJ) last fall to avoid potential charges, but Trump was uninterested, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Three unidentified sources briefed on the matter told the Post that Christopher Kise proposed quietly approaching the DOJ to reach an agreement that would include the promised return of all remaining documents in Trump’s possession and no indictment. Kise reportedly wanted to try to “take the temperature down” and hoped that the DOJ would agree to avoid indicting a former president.
But other attorneys convinced Trump to take a more aggressive stance, according to the newspaper, and Kise never went to the DOJ with the proposal.
The Post reported that the offer was one of several times in which the former president’s attorneys tried to get him to cooperate with the investigation into the classified and sensitive documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla., after his presidency ended.
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The Hill has reached out to Kise and the Trump campaign for comment. Kise declined to comment to the Post.
Months after Kise’s reported negotiation attempt, Attorney General Merrick Garland named Jack Smith as the special counsel to oversee the investigation. Last week, a 37-count indictment was filed against Trump, making him the first former president to face federal charges. The indictment includes 31 counts of the willful retention of documents in violation of the Espionage Act.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told the Post that Trump told the DOJ, “you need anything from us, just let us know.”
“Sadly, the weaponized DOJ rejected this offer of cooperation and conducted an unnecessary and unconstitutional raid on the President’s home in order to inflict maximum political damage on the leading presidential candidate,” Cheung said.
The federal indictment alleges Trump repeatedly ignored and sought to undermine officials’ attempts to retrieve the documents taken from the White House that should have been turned over to the National Archives. Trump allegedly misled his own attorneys about how many documents he had at Mar-a-Lago, causing them to wrongly inform authorities that they had fully complied with a subpoena that had been issued for the documents.
Seven unidentified Trump advisers with knowledge of the investigation told the Post that the former president told his advisers that the boxes of documents only contained newspaper clippings and clothes and ignored warnings from them about pending legal issues.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment Tuesday.