Trump addresses reason he refused to give back boxes saying they contained ‘shoes and shirts and everything’

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington email

Former President Donald Trump has finally addressed the reason he allegedly failed to return boxes of classified documents to the federal government: he’d put his clothes in them.

“Many people have asked me why I had these boxes, why did you want them?” Mr Trump said to supporters at his golf club in Bedminster on Tuesday evening. “The answer, in addition to having every right under the Presidential Records Act, is that these boxes were containing all types of personal belongings — many, many things, shirts and shoes, everything, as can be seen in the picture.”

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, Mr Trump was arraigned on 37 felony counts relating to his handling classified documents after leaving the presidency in 2021.

For months, Mr Trump has dodged or ignored questions about why he decided to keep custody of a number of boxes of classified documents that the government has alleged he took with him after losing the presidency.

On Tuesday, after his arraignment, that changed. Mr Trump unleashed a barrage of false accusations during his address to supporters in New Jersey, including that a widely-disseminated photograph of boxes piled up in a bathroom at Mar-a-Lago were staged.

Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed that his indictment for refusing to give back classified documents is a politically motivated stunt designed to derail his 2024 presidential campaign.

“This day will go down in infamy and Joe Biden will forever be remembered as not only the most corrupt president in the history of our country but perhaps, even more importantly, the president who together with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxist tried to destroy American democracy,” Mr Trump said during his speech.