The White House held an online briefing on Friday, Oct. 2, to share records regarding Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case. Trump allies used these files to push a narrative about weaponization. "They did things to people that were associated with us," Trump said, as the administration selectively disclosed government information.
Charlie Savage writes about national security and legal policy. He reported from Washington.
On the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 2, the White House invited a mix of mainstream and right-wing reporters to an online briefing about "weaponization." A briefer previewed records the White House planned to release from the investigation of Donald J. Trump's retention of classified documents while out of office, and his obstruction of their retrieval.
The files reflected scattered topics. Among them: an internal debate over probable cause to search Mr. Trump's social club and residence, Mar-a-Lago; plans to execute any search warrant while Mr. Trump and his family were away; and the collection of phone logs of Mr. Trump's top aide, Susie Wiles.
Most facts were already known or minutiae, and mainstream reporters ignored the files when the White House posted them on Monday. But Trump allies pushed an alarmist and decontextualized interpretation through the conservative information ecosystem. By Wednesday, a reporter from Trump ally and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell's website asked Mr. Trump about it in the Oval Office. The president thanked her for the question, denouncing the inquiry as "weaponization."
"They did things to people that were associated with us that nobody should have been able to do, and it all came out just recently in the files," Mr. Trump said.
The episode shows how the Trump administration and its allies selectively disclose government files, omitting context to discredit investigations that led to Mr. Trump's federal indictment and that anger his supporters. As the midterm elections approach, it also shows how a grievance narrative can be manufactured and inserted into national political discourse.
The Oct. 2 briefing was led by John Solomon, a former mainstream journalist who is now employed by the White House as a so-called special government employee. He has been active for years in presenting pro-Trump narratives, including during the 2019 events related to Ukraine that led to Mr. Trump's first impeachment. In 2022, Mr. Trump named him his representative to the National Archives so he could gain access to records related to the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russia.
Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.