Lawyer Says Trump Used ‘Classified’ Folder As Lampshade

Daniel ChaitinFebruary 13, 2023

The controversy over former President Donald Trump’s handling of documents is being cast in a new light.

One of Trump’s lawyers, Timothy Parlatore, reportedly said his boss used an empty manilla folder marked “Classified Evening Summary” As a lamp shade to block out the light from his bedroom’s landline telephone, which was keeping him awake at night.

“He has one of those landline telephones next to his bed, and it has a blue light on it, and it keeps him up at night. So he took the manilla folder and put it over so it would keep the light down so he could sleep at night,” CNN interview with Parlatore. “It’s just this folder. It says ‘Classified Evening Summary’ on it. It’s not a classification marking. It’s not anything that is controlled in any way. There is nothing illegal about it.”

Parlatore is representing Trump in Jack Smith’s special counsel investigation into the former president’s handling of government documents after leaving office and circumstances leading up to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

CNN Previously reportedAccording to unnamed sources the folder was given by the Justice Department to include classified markings and a laptop belonging an aide to Trump sometime in December or January after a May subpoena.

CNN was reportedly assured by Parlatore that the aide copied pages with classified markings onto his laptop. “We’ve tried to do searches of all the relevant places, and anytime we’ve found anything, we’ve immediately turned it over,” He said.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing. He has been severely critical of the investigation ever since it entered the public’s view in August 2022 when the FBI raided Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s Florida resort, to recover classified documents that Trump had Affirmatively refused To hand over to government

Contrary to Parlatore’s claim of cooperation, Trump responded to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Smith was appointed as special counsel Just days after Trump declared his 2024 presidential campaign, by Fox News Channel He “won’t partake” In the inquiry. Trump lamented the “inhumane” treatment of his family. “worst politicization of justice in our country.”