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During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, former First Lady Michelle Obama said her husband—former Democratic President Barack Obama—"would be in somebody's jail" if he'd stolen classified documents from the White House.
Obama was responding to a joke host Jimmy Kimmel made about whether her husband had ever wrapped gifts in “top secret documents he borrowed from the White House"—a reference to the ongoing federal investigation into former Republican President Donald Trump who denied he broke federal law regarding presidential documents he'd spirited away from the White House.
Michelle Obama laughed at Kimmel's jab at Trump. Her response "we don't have any" classified documents in the Obama household elicited cheers from the audience.
You can hear what she said in the video below.
\u201cJimmy Kimmel: "If he ever runs short of wrapping paper, does [Barack] ever wrap the gifts in top secret documents he borrowed from the White House?" \n\nMichelle Obama: "We don't have any ... And if we had, I guarantee you my husband would be in somebody's jail by now."\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1670936314
Michelle Obama said:
"We don't have any... And if we had, I guarantee you my husband would be in somebody's jail by now."
As funny as the exchange between her and Kimmel was, Michelle Obama's response underscores the seriousness of Trump's crime.
Trump's legal troubles erupted over the summer when he alerted the world the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had executed a search warrant for his Mar-a-Lago estate. Sources said Trump was in possession of classified material—including nuclear secrets—that prompted the intelligence community to voice concerns about national security.
Afterward, Trump claimed he had the ability to declassify any and all documents or information have been widely disputed by experts who've noted there is a specific federal process that must be adhered to before any information can be declassified.
Naturally, his claims have been shut down by federal prosecutors who have heard the explanation from Trump's attorneys, who have made the ability to withhold some documents from review critical to Trump's defense.
Attorneys with the Department of Justice (DOJ) are reportedly putting Trump on the "fast track to prosecution." They have maintained that the material Trump removed from the White House should never have been and that the intelligence contained within these documents was relevant to global affairs.
But given the plethora of evidence that shows Black men have often received harsher sentences for the same crimes committed by their White counterparts, it is not untoward for Michelle Obama to suggest that former President Obama would be "in jail" right now rather than allowed to conduct an exhaustive legal defense.
Many concurred.
\u201cNow isn't this a huge truth bomb? Thank you Michelle Obama..\u201d— Alliemae \u2721\ufe0f\u269b\ufe0f (@Alliemae \u2721\ufe0f\u269b\ufe0f) 1670947632
\u201cHe'd be under the jail\u201d— Still I Rise (@Still I Rise) 1670947527
\u201c@therecount No truer story ever told. If honorable Barack Obama did half of what traitorous Donald trump has done in America and to America, he\u2019d be rotting in jail by now with racist, rich, powerful white men doing everything they can to extinct his whole lineage. Big Shame!!!!\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1670936314
\u201c@therecount So... Trump and his accomplices should be in jail awaiting trial!\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1670936314
\u201cSo true!!\u201d— Oldude (@Oldude) 1670943700
\u201cShe is right.\u201d— LaSonya (@LaSonya) 1670945495
\u201cThat\u2019s the truth. Michelle is beautiful \ud83e\udd29\u201d— Cheryl S S (@Cheryl S S) 1670946701
\u201c@therecount Wow and she ain\u2019t lying\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1670936314
Michelle Obama's appearance on Kimmel's program—part of her 13-date book tour—comes just days after The Washington Postreported that an investigative team Trump himself hired found two new items marked as classified in a storage container used by him in Florida.
The documents have since been turned over to the FBI and immediate details as to their contents was not available. Federal prosecutors have already requested a federal judge to hold Trump and his legal team in contempt for failing to turn in all documents.