Trump totally decomposes on Fox News

Asked nothing but puff questions, Trump still indicted himself with talk of telekinetic declassification and other nonsense.

Fox News screengrab

On the same day that he endured legal setbacks on two fronts, Donald Trump recorded an interview with Sean Hannity in which he made things much worse.

That’s not an easy thing to do. Hannity has spent years fawning over Trump and doing interviews with him that are the epitome of puffy. The latest installment was no different. Hannity even spent part of it workshopping legal defenses for Trump. But these days, just letting the former guy talk on TV is all it takes for him to do a lot of self-inflicted damage.

As you’re no doubt aware, Trump is under criminal investigation for mishandling classified documents he took to Mar-a-Lago — the target of a recent FBI search and the location of Wednesday’s interview. Even as Hannity coached him, Trump’s defense of his conduct was so ridiculous that it should’ve aired on Comedy Central.

There is a process presidents must follow for declassifying documents. Trump didn’t do that. But to hear him tell it, all it took was some mind power.

“These doesn’t have to be a process,” Trump told Hannity. “You can declassify by just thinking about it.”

Even more preposterously, Trump went on to claim the FBI may have been looking for Hillary’s emails at Mar-a-Lago. He didn’t really seem to be joking.

Watch the whole clip:

Bill Grueskin @BGrueskin

By the end of this clip, Trump almost completely decomposes. If you saw someone on a sidewalk talking this way, you’d put your phone to your ear, stare at the ground and cross the street as fast as possible. Via @atrupar

Trump later suggested, without evidence, that the FBI planted evidence at his residence.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

Trump suggests the FBi planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago

So Trump’s version of events is that he declassified documents that were planted by the FBI. Or something. Along similar lines, at another point Trump told Hannity that he both completed the wall and would’ve completed it if he had just a few more weeks in office.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

"The wall was completed" -- Donald Trump

Absurdities of this sort may be enough for Hannity, who would nod along if Trump told him 2+2=5. They may not bother Fox News viewers either. But they’re not going over well in court.

It’s one thing to lie about the wall. But as I’ve written about in this newsletter elsewhere, by confusing his legal problems with PR ones and trying to BS his way out of them, Trump is creating headaches for his lawyers and possibly increasing his criminal exposure.

Thank goodness he doesn’t know better.

Even Trump-nominated judges aren’t buying it

As fate would have it, shortly after the Trump/Hannity interview was recorded but before it aired, a three-judge appeals court panel (including two Trump nominees) rejected Trump’s claims about telekinetic declassification — ones his lawyers haven’t dared make in court.