CNN reports that Tom Fitton has been advising Trump that he should not have returned any documents and should not give back any more

Gabby Orr: Fitton advised Trump “that he never should have returned the documents to the Archives in the first place, and if the Archives came knocking again, that he shouldn’t turn over any more”

Written by Media Matters Staff

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From the August 25, 2022, edition of CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper

JAKE TAPPER (HOST): Despite Donald Trump's public claims that he's been cooperating with the National Archives, he's been increasingly listening to outside legal advice to do the exact opposite. And now, Trump allies are becoming increasingly concerned about a potential indictment. CNN's Kristen Holmes and Gabby Orr are part of the team breaking this new reporting. Gabby, tell us about this legal advice Trump is getting about cooperating with the Archives.

GABBY ORR: Well Jake, we know some of the folks who have been helping him navigate these matters for the past couple of months. You know, Christina Bobb, Jim Trusty, Evan Corcoran, those are familiar names but what we now know is that Trump began taking advice from Tom Fitton, who is the head of a conservative legal activism group, Judicial Watch, earlier this year, shortly after he returned those 15 boxes to the National Archives in January.

And what Fitton was telling Trump behind the scenes is really interesting, because he was essentially saying, in his belief, Trump had full authority over the documents that he brought from the White House to Mar-A-Lago at the end of his presidency, that he never should have returned the documents to the Archives in the first place, and that if the Archives came knocking again, that he shouldn't turn over any more documents.

Now, we know that Trump didn't always listen to Tom Fitton, because in June during that meeting with federal investigators his attorneys did turn over additional documents. But this is -- it really speaks to sort of the behind the scenes advice that he was getting from people outside his legal team.