A #SpecialCounsel was appointed months later.

Kise, a former solicitor general of Florida who was paid $3 million upfront to join Trump’s team last year, declined to comment.

That quiet entreaty last fall was one of many occasions when lawyers & advisers sought to get #Trump to take a more cooperative stance in a bid to avoid what happened Friday.

#ClassifiedDocuments #Obstruction #Espionage #NationalSecurity #Indictment #DOJ #Legal #Justice #JackSmith

#Trump time & again rejected the advice from #lawyers & advisers who urged him to cooperate & instead took the advice of #TomFitton, the head of the conservative group #JudicialWatch, & a range of others who told him he could legally keep the #ClassifiedDocuments & should fight the #DOJ, advisers said. Trump would often cite Fitton to others, &Fitton told some of Trump’s lawyers that Trump could keep the docs, even as they disagreed, the advisers said.…

#Obstruction #Espionage #NationalSecurity

#TomFitton, who appeared before the grand jury & was questioned about his role in both the #ClassifiedDocuments case & the investigation into #Jan6…, acknowledged the advice he gave to #Trump. He added that he read the indictment & did not believe it laid out illegal or obstructive conduct. Multiple witnesses said they were asked about Fitton in front of a grand jury & the role he played in Trump’s decisions.

#Obstruction #Espionage #NationalSecurity #Indictment #DOJ #Legal #Justice #JackSmith

Several other #Trump advisers blamed #TomFitton for convincing Trump that he could keep the #ClassifiedDocuments & repeatedly mentioning the “Clinton socks case” — a reference to tapes Bill Clinton stored in his sock drawer of his secret interviews w/historian Taylor Branch that served as the basis of Branch’s 2009 book documenting the Clinton presidency.

#Obstruction #Espionage #NationalSecurity #Indictment #DOJ #Legal #Justice