Trump’s One America Network lawer Christina Bobb may not be “smart” or “competent” or “able to differentiate between loyalty and foolhardiness,” but she is at least smart enough not to get hit by the same bus twice. Which is how she wound up spending her Friday with federal prosecutors explaining how she came to put her name on a June 30 declaration attesting that as far as she knew, Trump wasn’t hanging onto any classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Because, as became perfectly clear on August 8 when FBI agents executed a search warrant at the premises and kicked up dozens more classified records, Bobb’s declaration was bullshit.
“A diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida,” she wrote, identifying herself as the “Custodian of Records for The Office of Donald J. Trump” for the purposes of the grand jury subpoena for classified records issued after months in which Trump stonewalled the National Archives, then turned over boxes containing classified documents commingled with newspaper clippings and various detritus.
“This search was conducted after receipt of the subpoena, in order to locate any and all documents that are responsive to the subpoena,” she went on, promising that “Any and all responsive documents accompany this certification.”
People close to Bobb have spent weeks making it clear to the New York Times that Trump’s lawyer Evan Corcoran drafted the document for Bobb to sign. They told the Washington Post that, unlike Corcoran, she’d hired a lawyer and was very hot to talk to the feds. And Bobb herself appeared on rightwing RSBN on September 23 to say that she hadn’t been acting as Trump’s attorney when she signed the thing, and so no privilege would apply — an interesting prospect since she was there for the Trump campaign’s fake electors scheme and present at the Willard Hotel, AKA the Trump command center, on January 6, 2021.
In short, she did everything but hire a plane to fly over Main Justice trailing a banner shouting “MERRICK, CALL ME! XOX, CHRISTINA B.” And according to NBC and The Guardian — plus Bobb’s regular crew of Chatty Kathys — she finally got her wish last week.
Both articles highlight that Bobb amended an earlier version of the attestation drafted by Corcoran which affirmatively stated that she’d conducted the search herself and found no more classified documents.
“She had to insist on that disclaimer twice before she signed it,” her pal gabbled to NBC, as if we should all applaud and clap for a lawyer who refuses to lie under oath.
Both outlets similarly confirmed that investigators asked Bobb about Trumpland lawyer Boris Epshteyn, who “did not help draft the statement but was minimally involved in discussions about the records,” according to NBC. And The Guardian points out that there is a specific legal definition for the term “Custodian of Records,” and “young lawyer who is dumb enough to sign almost anything” ain’t it.
So, it sure as hell looks like Bobb is going to do what it takes to save her own ass here, up to and including flip on Trump. Or as her buddy put it to NBC, “She is not criminally liable. She is not going to be charged. She is not pointing fingers. She is simply a witness for the truth.”
But, counterpoint:
Your tweets say NO, but your friends, they say YES YES YES. And they say it to any reporter in DC who’ll answer the phone.
[NBC / The Guardian]
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