EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump said his federal indictment is “election interference at the highest level,” telling Fox News Digital that the Biden administration is “the most corrupt” in history.
During an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital Thursday night, Trump said the case is “election interference” and “the greatest witch hunt of all time.” Trump said he will “of course” plead not guilty to charges in federal court on Tuesday, and said he is “totally innocent.”
Trump, the current front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, was indicted on federal charges Thursday evening stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s months-long investigation into the former president’s alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago.
TRUMP INDICTED ON FEDERAL CHARGES RELATED TO DOCUMENT HANDLING AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
“I did absolutely nothing wrong,” he said, citing the Presidential Records Act, saying it “makes me totally innocent.”
President Biden is under special counsel investigation for his alleged improper retention of classified records from his time as vice president in the Obama administration and as a senator.
Sources familiar briefed Fox News Digital on the contents of the subpoenaed FBI-generated FD-1023 form alleging a criminal bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national that involved influence over U.S. policy decisions.
President Joe Biden (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“The reason that they did this today, at this time, is because of the fact that the $5 million was found out in the document, and that’s just the beginning,” Trump said.
Fox News Digital exclusively reported that the FD-1023 form was an interview with a “highly credible” confidential source who detailed multiple meetings and conversations he or she had with a top Burisma executive over the course of several years, starting in 2015. Fox News Digital has not seen the form, but it was described by several sources who are aware of its contents.
The document then makes reference to “the Big Guy,” which, has been said to be a reference to Joe Biden.
The Burisma executive told the confidential source that he “didn’t pay the Big Guy directly.”
A source familiar said according to the document, the $5 million payments appeared to reference a kind of “retainer” Burisma intended to pay the Bidens to deal with a number of issues, including his effort to end the investigation into Burisma led by Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Another source referred to the arrangement as a “pay-to-play” scheme.
Trump was later impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — all stemming from the phone call and the question about the Bidens’ dealings. The Senate voted for acquittal in February 2020.
“I was asking the right question,” Trump said, referring to his July 2019 phone call with Zelenskyy. “I said, if you have any corruption on the Biden administration, call our attorney general—I was doing my job—and it turns out, my job was done correctly.”