I can’t say I wrote down “how they write their memoirs” as a reason for former President Trump to keep classified information in his private residence, but hey, what do I know? Rep. Michael R. Turner ( Ohio Republican) is on the House Intelligence Committee.
“What can classified and top-secret information be used for when a former president leaves office?” Ed O’Keefe of CBS asked Turner on Sunday regarding the FBI’s search for Mar-a-Lago. “Why are you taking him back to Florida with you?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Turner replied. You know, I remember very well everything that happened in their regime. ”
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a little top-secret information for old-fashioned creativity.
Turner’s flippant “memoir” account is the latest attempt by Republicans in Congress to downplay possible wrongdoing by the former president.
You would think that the House Intelligence Committee would be concerned if classified documents were found in the homes of people vulnerable to the dictatorship. But the Ohio congressman wants voters to think of files the same way they think of expired library books. Never mind that confidential information was used last time to enhance your memoir. General David H. Petraeus was forced to resign as his CIA Director and seek a plea bargain.
To be fair, Turner was late on the Trump train. In fact, he endorsed his latecomer John Kasich for president in 2016. But after the election, Turner got in line. Years later, he suggests on television that the man who tried to overturn the election kept top-secret information in his house to overcome writer’s block.
As the saying goes, life comes quickly.
Even some of Trump’s harshest critics have struggled to denounce him without feeling the need to keep the Democrats under wraps. We have been searching for the mythical sweet spot where we can receive
Take Turner’s fellow Ohio legislator, Anthony Gonzalez. Now, after discussing with nine other House Republicans last fall why he took part in the vote to impeach the former president, Gonzalez told CNN’s Jake Tupper that Trump “would be in the military for even a few days.” I cannot trust you to be the commander-in-chief of the ”
Gonzalez said, “It is very sad that I have come to the conclusion that I did.” I had to do
Still, after saying, “If he gets nominated again in ’24, I’ll do everything I can personally do to keep him from winning.” gonzales went To tell“I’m not voting Democrat.”
Republicans on the January 6 committee of the House of Representatives, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, echoed similar comments, indirectly portraying Democrats as bad, thus criticizing Trump There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, a coup d’état scheme, or any other example of an organized attempt to overthrow democracy.
That doesn’t mean progressives are blamed. The contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop may not have been used to incite riots, but the investigation deserves more than “whatever” quips from liberals about Trump’s children .
Still, suggesting classified information could help write a presidential memoir highlights the depths some Republicans are willing to go to just to protect Trump from the repercussions of his actions. Politicians like Turner would rather water down Trump’s transgressions by offering nonsensical explanations or saturating the debate with false equivalence. Anything to avoid the repercussions of being questioned.
When Gonzalez told Tupper, I agreed. A country cannot survive with its constitution on fire. ”
But messages from Gonzalez and other seemingly rational Republicans are hard to take seriously. They tell us that Trump is a threat to democracy, but they also say that voting Democrats is worse. there is.
This story originally appeared los angeles times.