Donald Trump privately praised a lawyer for deleting Hillary Clinton's emails, feds say: 'He did a great job'

• Donald Trump was a big fan of Hillary Clinton's lawyer, prosecutors say.
• As prosecutors investigated his stashing of classified documents, Trump marveled how Clinton stayed out of trouble, the feds allege.

Donald Trump has publicly railed for years about how Hillary Clinton handled her emails.

But in private, it was a very different story, prosecutors allege.

Trump praised Clinton's lawyer last year for deleting some of her email messages, marveling at how she stayed out of trouble, according to a stunning indictment from federal prosecutors.

The unsealed indictment revealed that Trump met with two of his attorneys in May 2022 as investigators asked for him to turn over classified documents that were missing after he left the White House, according to prosecutors.

Trump grumbled that he didn't want anyone looking through his files, prosecutors allege.

"I don't want anyone looking through my boxes, I really don't, I don't want you looking through my boxes," he said, according to the indictment.

Trump later asked what would happen if "we don't respond at all or don't play ball with them" and floated suggesting there were "no documents."

He also praised Clinton's lawyer that day for deleting her messages, prosecutors say.

"He was great," Trump said, according to the indictment. "He did a great job... He was the one who deleted all of her emails, the 30,000 emails, because they basically dealt with her scheduling and her going to the gym and her having beauty appointments.

"And he was great... so she didn't get in any trouble," Trump said, according to the court filing.

Trump is facing 37 counts in connection with the classified document scandal, including conspiracy and violating the Espionage Act.

Federal prosecutors allege that he took classified documents — including some containing nuclear secrets — from the White House, showed them off at Mar-A-Lago and his resort at Bedminster, and then lied and tried to hide the files from investigators.