Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on Sunday said former President Trump’s “bullying” won’t help him as Trump faces federal criminal charges related to the former president’s handling of classified documents.
“I know that’s his M.O. when he’s involved in civil litigation, when a bank is suing for the money that he owes, that kind of stuff. He goes into the sort of bullying, bombastic mode where he tries to make the other side as miserable as possible, and hopes that they’ll go away or settle on good terms,” Whitehouse said of Trump on ABC’s “This Week.”
“When you’re dealing with federal prosecutors, that stuff just doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter. It’s just background noise to the federal prosecutors. So, it’s not going to help him at all in this case.”
Trump earlier this month pleaded not guilty to 37 counts alleging that he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed justice by taking classified records with him after his presidency and then refusing to return them.
The former president has lashed out at special counsel Jack Smith and bashed the prosecution as politically motivated. He’s also hurled insults at the Manhattan district attorney in a separate case in which he was charged with falsifying business records, and at judges as he faces his various legal battles.
“The case is going to go forward and as it does, we’re going to learn more about it through the motion practice, through as the Attorney General [Merrick] Garland said to the filings that the special counsel makes in the case. And there’s going to be a steady drumbeat of both activity and evidence that emerges as it properly should through the case itself,” Whitehouse said on Sunday.
–Updated at 11:25 a.m.
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