Why didn't TFG just destroy the purloined documents?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Please discuss. Thank you.

[brooklynite]

1. Why should he?

Please respond.

[LiberalLovinLug]

8. To cover his sorry big orange ass

[brooklynite]

12. In which case he wouldn't take them in the first place.

He didn’t think he’d get caught.

[LiberalLovinLug]

14. I imagine he took them so he could destroy them in his own home much more discreetly

I suspect that he's already got rid of a lot of what he thinks are incriminating documents by ripping them up and flushing them down his golden toilet.

[tirebiter]

2. He can answer that

At his trial.

[Meadowoak]

3. Because you can't sell destroyed documents to the highest bidder.

[everyonematters]

9. bingo!

That is the only explanation I can think of.

[pbmus]

10. Bingo

[gratuitous]

17. That and he wasn't at Mar-a-Lago when the FBI came calling

He was taken by surprise.

[The_Counsel]

21. Actually I Think It Was the Other Way Around....

...I think he was given a heads-up about the raid and he made himself scarce.

Then he can go to his supporters and sycophants and scream bloody murder about being wronged somehow.

Keep in mind: this is Donald Trump we're talking about. Most of his plans are logic-free.

[gratuitous]

22. You're right, the order of events doesn't matter

Whether the former guy was absent by design or by chance, he'd still complain about the whole thing. But I think if his absence was by chance and not his own design, he might have tried to destroy the documents had he been there.

[TomSlick]

18. There is no option to recommend a reply so I follow the examples of others.

BINGO!

[Bev54]

20. That and he is so incredibly arrogant that he really never believed

that the FBI would ever search HIS house.

[Irish_Dem]

24. Or if you are using the documents for blackmail, extortion or revenge, you need originals.

Copies could have been forged and won't do the job.

[CottonBear]

4. 2 reasons:

1. Monetize the information
2. Kompromat on House & Senate Republicans

[PortTack]

5. He is so mentally disabled he couldn't remember what they say and then just whisper those secrets

Into our enemies ear. And, he wouldn’t know what was of value and what isn’t.

[WestMichRad]

6. We're not talking about the sharpest crayon in the box.

[Chainfire]

7. I believe that it is just arrogance.

Trump has always gotten away with everything and he can't imagine that the law could come for him now.

What I can't figure out is why he would want to squirrel away government documents and the risk of his freedom? We know that Trump is a damn fool, but his advisors must be just as stupid. They say that pride goeth before the fall, lets hope that that bit of wisdom is true.

[Irish_Dem]

26. But we know he destroyed other evidence.

Why not destroy these documents too.

The answer is that they must have been very valuable to him.
He would not destroy that kind of thing.

[Emile]

11. Because they are for sale!

[Raven123]

13. The plumbing at Mar A Lago couldn't handle the volume

Seriously, it is possible that someone other than Trump is the target of the investigation. Trump and the documents are the tools of the enterprise and he is clueless.

He is so obsessed with the 2020 election he hasn’t thought about them.

He loves the attention having them brings

[Marcus IM]

15. Bargaining chips?

Some secrets might be worth a lot to certain entities.

Just the basic plot of hundreds of spy/espionage movies.

[HariSeldon]

16. Same law applies to destruction as theft

Admittedly, it's a little harder to prove the documents were destroyed. But the end result is the same: fines, jail time (up to five years), and banned from holding federal office.

[roamer65]

19. Same reason Nixon didn't destroy the tapes.

Paranoia.

[Irish_Dem]

23. He needed the originals to sell, or use for blackmail or revenge.

Copies don't work for these endeavors.

You need the originals.

[Irish_Dem]

25. Serial killers keep trophies from their crimes.

And they want the real deal. Not a copy.

[Solomon]

27. and I asked why he simply didn't copy them.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217022508

[Vinca]

28. Can't sell to the highest bidder unless you've got the goods.

[Ponietz]

29. Could be related to his political enemies

and he kept them with intent to release at a strategic point through a 3rd party ala Assange—yet unarranged, so they couldn’t be destroyed.

[maxsolomon]

30. For his Presidential Library?

I can only imagine a couple scenarios:
1. He thinks they are HIS documents, because he was President. Defiance, hubris.
2. He planned to go through them and destroy anything incriminating, but never got around to it because he's a lazy fuck who couldn't bear to listen to one of his servants tell him what was in each box.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. There is a large vacant lot adjacent to the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.

Perfect spot for his library.

[maxsolomon]

35. Not an unlikely scenario

He's going to build one; it's inevitable.

If I can't piss on his grave, I'll piss on that.

[MiniMe]

31. It's hard to sell them if they are destroyed

[Samrob]

32. Sell and make a profit. Or just to break the law and prove he could do what Hillary couldn't

and didn't.

[tblue37]

34. Trophies.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

36. Can't sell destroyed documents

Money's what Trump cares most about.