Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Newsmax Friday that he doesn't think another indictment of former President Donald Trump is in the cards, despite reports that seemed to indicate otherwise.
"That's what certainly everybody is starting to believe," Whitaker said during an appearance on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "But the target letter and, obviously, the news of their continuing investigation on Jan. 6, to me, just doesn't feel like it's coming down.
"Certainly the news media is being told that by someone, and I'm guessing it is Jack Smith's leaky prosecution team because it seems like every time that something developed in the Hunter Biden or Joe Biden case then they do something in regards to Donald Trump."
Trump and two of his employees are facing new charges in the criminal case over the retention of classified government documents at the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
After originally being indicted on 37 counts last month, Trump now faces 40 charges in the case.
Whitaker said that he thinks the American people are getting a good look at "the two-tiered system of justice," with the different approaches being taken in the Hunter Biden and Donald Trump cases.
"They're seeing Hunter and Joe Biden not being investigated very strenuously, and they're seeing the exact opposite with Donald Trump," he said. "He [Trump] has a prosecutor that seems to be going to scratch out every single charge that he possibly can.
"Remember, these new charges, in the documents case, wouldn't affect at all the sentence, if he were ultimately convicted. So this is just a pile-on to dirty him up and make him look bad."
Trump is scheduled to be in Iowa on Friday and Whitaker said that "Iowans are excited" to see the former president.
"I just can tell you that everyone's coming around to supporting Donald Trump and understanding that he's fighting on behalf of everyone," he said.
A Defense Department memo on Iran that Trump allegedly boasted about keeping in a leaked audio recording was not one of the documents that he is accused of willfully retaining after leaving office.
A source told CBS News that the initial 37-count federal indictment against Trump includes 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, but not the Iran memo.
Whitaker said that Smith "took a day of bad press when he didn't have that document the reporter described regarding Iran and so that was a little bit of a negative hit on his investigation."
"They worked very hard to find that document and wanted to amend for that," he said, referring to the three new charges that Smith added to the indictment. "And then, I'm guessing because they appear to be very vindictive and petty, they're going after more people from the Trump Organization, including this groundskeeper."
Ultimately, Whitaker said, the outcome of the case is "in the hands of … 12 people in south Florida," which, he noted, is "Trump country."
"It'll be very interesting watching this trial if and when it happens," he said.
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