Chris Christie said he believes the Department of Justice had “no choice” but to raid former President Donald Trump’s residence in pursuit of documents held after he left office.
The former governor of New Jersey claimed part of the problem is how long it took for Trump’s team to clear out his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida before the FBI finally raided it last month.
“This has been 16 months that the Department of Justice has been saying please, asking nicely, negotiating with his attorneys, taking up partial production, seeing a non-response to a subpoena,” Christie said on ABC News. “They had no choice, in my view, but to go in and take them because of the nature of the documents.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday said the Department of Justice had “no choice” but to go into Mar-a-Lago to take classified documents back from Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/XsPuprtrMQ
— The Recount (@therecount) September 12, 2022
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Christie also stated that he believes the Justice Department has a good shot to be successful in appealing an order from a judge granting a special master review of the material taken from Trump’s residence, which has stymied a criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of documents.
The FBI collected around 27 boxes of material and over 100 documents with classified markings during its search and seizure of the Mar-a-Lago residence on Aug. 8. The Justice Department is investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice, per an unsealed warrant for the raid.
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Trump claims he declassified all the documents and denies wrongdoing.
