Donald Trump in Iowa: New reports of mishandling classified documents latest ‘fake news’

URBANDALE — At candidate events across the state, it is common to hear a similar refrain from Iowa Republicans about former President Donald Trump: “I like what President Trump accomplished in office, but I don’t like the drama or baggage that comes with it.”

The former president, who once again is running to occupy the White House, has a message for those Republican voters.

“Without the drama, we wouldn’t get elected,” Trump told The Gazette during an interview Thursday in Iowa. “And without the drama, I wouldn’t make it as successful.”

Trump was back in Iowa on Thursday for the second day of a two-day stay here, during which he made three public appearances and conducted two interviews with conservative media outlets.

After his first event Thursday morning, before a suburban Des Moines conservative club, Trump spoke to The Gazette, saying the drama some Republican voters talk about is, in his view, precisely what makes him an effective candidate and president.

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Trump has dominated national polling thus far in the Republican presidential primary. He has a 30-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the averaging of national Republican primary polling collected by Real Clear Politics.

However, many Republicans in Iowa, who will cast the first votes in the presidential primary early next year, say they are considering supporting someone other than Trump. Those Republicans often say that while they like the significant conservative accomplishments during Trump’s four years in office, they do not like the drama that comes with Trump’s sometimes abrasive speaking style or legal issues.

Drama is part of the deal, Trump told The Gazette.

“A lot of drama with China. But they knew they weren’t going to mess around with us. We had a lot of drama with (President Vladimir) Putin and Russia. But nobody was ever tougher on Russia, and they would have never gone in, as an example, into Ukraine,” Trump said.

He also cited his foreign policy toward Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean President Kim Jong Un.

“So you know, there was drama, but sometimes you need drama in order to get the job done,” he said.

Trump discussed myriad other topics with The Gazette, which was conducted after he addressed the Westside Conservative Club for 20 minutes of remarks and another 20 minutes of question-and-answer at a Machine Shed restaurant in this Des Moines suburb.

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On classified documents

When asked about the latest reports that he knowingly mishandled classified documents after leaving the White House, he said those reports are the latest examples of “fake news” and a “witch hunt.”

According to a CNN report, federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording in which Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document. The audio recording appears to indicate that Trump understood that he had retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to CNN’s report, which cited “multiple sources familiar with the investigation.”

CNN’s reporting was confirmed by other national media outlets, including the New York Times.

Trump on Thursday waved off the reports.

“Not only fake news, it’s fake news and it’s just a continuation of the witch hunt,” Trump told The Gazette. “Just a continuation of this terrible witch hunt that’s been going on for literally seven years.”

On a running mate

If Trump wins the Republican presidential nomination, it’s a safe bet his former Vice President Mike Pence will not be his running mate again. Pence plans to officially announce his candidacy for president next week, and the two are not in agreement over Pence’s role in Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election that he lost to President Joe Biden.

Would Trump consider as his running mate Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has developed a national profile in the Republican Party in recent years?

“Well, I have a lot of people that I consider,” Trump told The Gazette. “We have some great people. Whoever it is, it’ll be somebody who will be terrific. We’re gonna have a lot of great people. We have incredible people in the Republican Party.”

On Ukraine

Trump insisted he would be able to quickly broker a deal that would end the war in Ukraine, which has lasted for more than a year since Russia first invaded the country in February 2022.

“In 24 hours, I would have a deal done,” Trump told The Gazette. “A semi-complicated process, but I know both of them (Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy). I would have a deal done very quickly. It has to stop. That war has to stop.”

On DeSantis

Trump’s latest Iowa trip comes on the heels of a visit from DeSantis, who recently made his presidential campaign official and spent two days in Iowa. The Florida governor is widely seen as Trump’s chief rival in this early stage of the Republican presidential primary.

Trump on Thursday homed in on a recent comment made by DeSantis, who said during campaign events earlier this week in Iowa that it will take him two four-year terms as president to work through the “bureaucracy” in the nation’s capital.

“Let’s be clear: it really does take two terms as the president to be able to finish this job,” DeSantis said during his campaign kickoff event in Iowa. “The bureaucracy is so entrenched that I think we can bring George Washington back and I don’t think he could fix it in one single four-year term. But we must get the job done.”

Trump’s response: “You don’t need eight years. You need six months. We can turn this thing around so quickly,” Trump told the Westside Conservative Club. “Who the hell wants to wait eight years? I’ll have it turned around, fully turned around. …

“When he says eight years, every time I hear that I winced because I say if it takes eight years to turn this around, then you don’t want him. You don’t want him as your president.”

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com