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
Trump is listed in the indictment, which has not been unsealed, as a criminal defendant charged with at least seven counts involving obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and illegal retention of classified government material. He has been ordered to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday. The indictment remains unsealed.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in at the Waco Regional Airport in March 2023. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“This is the most corrupt administration in history—there has never been an administration so corrupt, and they’re just starting to find it right now,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “They are trying to deflect all of their dishonesty by bringing this ridiculous boxes hoax case.”
He added: “They’re not going to get away with it.”
“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.
When asked whether he thought Biden could, too, be charged, Trump said, “Probably not—nothing will happen.”
A view of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. March 31, 2023. (REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo)
He said the indictment was handed down Thursday because it was the same day an allegation, first revealed by Fox News Digital, emerged that Biden received $5 million for involvement in a bribery scheme.
Fox News Digital, hours before the indictment, exclusively reported that a confidential human source told the FBI during a June 2020 interview that President Biden was allegedly paid $5 million by an executive of the Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings, where his son Hunter Biden sat on the board.
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.
Sources familiar told Fox News Digital that the confidential human source believes that the $5 million payment to Joe Biden and the $5 million payment to Hunter Biden occurred, based on his or her conversations with the Burisma executive.
President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, step off Air Force One, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The confidential source said the Burisma executive told him he “paid” the Bidens in such a manner “through so many different bank accounts” that investigators would not be able to “unravel this for at least 10 years.”
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.
Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, and at the time, Hunter had a highly-lucrative role on the board receiving thousands of dollars per month. The then-vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.
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In 2019, then-President Donald Trump, pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine —specifically Hunter Biden’s ventures with Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings and Joe Biden’s successful effort to have Shokin ousted.
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.”
