A.G. Gancarski
Marco Rubio says he is “skeptical” about the latest reports of former President Donald Trump mishandling highly classified documents, continuing an energetic defense of Trump even as details emerge.
“Let’s break this down,” Rubio said during Wednesday’s episode of Fox and Friends, when asked if those documents should be in a “post-presidential desk drawer” by co-host Steve Doocy.
“First of all, we really don’t know,” Rubio said. “Let’s go back and understand that all this information is coming from one side and one place. And that is ‘sources with knowledge of the investigation.'”
“Who are the sources with knowledge of the investigation? The FBI and the Justice Department. And they are leaking to the media. So, generally when there is an investigation by the FBI and the Justice Department, they’re not even acknowledging there is an investigation, much less leaking.”
These parties are “strategically leaking information which can’t be rebutted or in any way analyzed,” Rubio added, to “influence the narrative” for the sake of “politics.”
“This is being politicized, which is doing damage to the FBI and the Justice Department, to important institutions to our country,” Rubio added.
The latest reporting from the Washington Post offers more detail on the information secreted away by Trump, including classified documentation of a foreign power’s nuclear capabilities.
That adds still more detail to evolving accounts of the sensitive information Trump took without authorization after the end of his presidency, but these accounts have not shaken Rubio’s advocacy for the former President in what he has called a simple dispute about “storage.”
In comments Sunday to NBC 6, Rubio dismissed the issue with Trump as little more than a “storage argument” about documents with the FBI. That interview came in the wake of reporting that Trump kept over 10,000 documents and had dozens of empty folders, including 43 marked “classified.”
“This is really at its core a storage argument that they’re making. They’re arguing there are documents there, they don’t deny that he should have access to those documents. … I don’t think a fight over storage of documents is worthy of what they’ve done, which is full scale raid and then these constant leaks. That’s the second problem. It’s the PR behind all this,” the Senator said.
Rubio has suggested the so-called storage dispute is really a window to persecute Republicans writ large also as “potential insurrectionists.”
“The next step in this process is going to be that people who are supporters of Donald Trump or just conservatives complaining about this are going to begin to get harassed, are going to begin to get labeled as potential insurrectionists and are going to begin to get harassed by law enforcement. That’s the next step in this playbook, sadly,” Rubio said last month on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program.
Rubio has also contended the FBI actions were more harmful to American public trust than anything done by America’s enemies.
“The FBI’s actions, less than three months from the upcoming elections, are doing more to erode public trust in our government institutions, the electoral process and the rule of law in the U.S. than the Russian Federation or any other foreign adversary,” Rubio wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray in the wake of the search last month.
11 comments
Val Demings
September 7, 2022 at 9:35 am
Vote for me. I’ll send cocaine addict and neo fascist liar Marco Boobio back to Cuba on a reverse banana boat. Him and the other Cuban fascists have outworn their welcome. Let’s make America great again and annihilate the Trumpian neo nazis.
Andrew Linko
September 7, 2022 at 9:43 am
So Rubio, how are you going to defend the FBI, and most importantly, the degradation of safety, security of every CIA station because the ‘Cult President’ you defend has stolen Top Secret classified documents? Rubio, even you would sell our Nation for this dangerous man? Then Florida should vote for our Constitution, protecting our nation from foreign and DOMESTIC terrorism, the law of the people, for the people, and by the people, not a self-proclaimed freedumb leader, who himself had ‘heel spurs’ when it was time to protect and defend our true ‘FREEDOM’!
Hope
September 7, 2022 at 9:45 am
Very well stated, Marco! Rubio for the win!
May the trolls withhold hate speech, ridiculous talking points, misinformation, false information, vulgarity and actually contribute intelligent thoughtful dialogue. One could only hope..
Andrew Linko
September 7, 2022 at 9:49 am
NEVER forget January 6th and those who deny it happened and defend the actions to win re-election!
Elliott Offen
September 7, 2022 at 10:01 am
@Hope: Thoughtful dialogue can’t be had with those who supported and still support the Orange Shlong, Orange Crime Spree, Orange liar. Just no insight to be found among you people.
A Rice
September 8, 2022 at 11:15 am
Partisan hypocrite Rubio defends Trump today, yet had these strong words on Hillary Clinton’s emails 6 years ago:
“The FBI concluded what many Americans have known for quite some time, which is that Hillary Clinton’s conduct as Secretary of State and her mishandling of classified information was disgraceful and unbecoming of someone who aspires to the presidency,” Rubio said in a 2016 written statement. “There is simply no excuse for Hillary Clinton’s decision to set up a home-cooked email system which left sensitive and classified national security information vulnerable to theft and exploitation by America’s enemies. Her actions were grossly negligent, damaged national security and put lives at risk.”
“Hillary Clinton’s actions have sent the worst message to the millions of hard-working federal employees who hold security clearances and are expected to go to great lengths to secure sensitive government information and abide by the rules. They don’t take their oaths lightly, and we shouldn’t expect any less of their leaders.”
Tjb
September 7, 2022 at 9:56 am
Marco states “ erode public trust in our governments institutions “. You are doing a good job eroding this trust with your BS Marco.
Andrew Linko
September 7, 2022 at 10:00 am
Rubio and Scott both want to erode our government’s success, Social Security and Medicare, keeping millions of seniors out of poverty. They would use the money to reward their contributors that paid one Senator’s student loans, even though he never learned hot to account for those funds and broke the law!
Arm The Homeless
September 7, 2022 at 10:55 am
Has ‘Lil Marco figured out a psalm that relates to hiding nuclear secrets at your gaudy club, or can we just fall back to the well-worn classic like don’t steal, lie or covet?
Maybe Jesus has some real stem-winders on proper document storage strategies I’m not aware of.
Andrew Linko
September 7, 2022 at 11:00 am
Marco’s afraid he might be cut off of Mar-A-Lago fundraising and money events! Fear of losing is a blind motivator!
PeterH
September 7, 2022 at 11:57 am
The Washington Post reported last evening that nuclear highly classified documents were among the files discovered at Trump’s hotel.
This is ENOUGH to convince thinking independent voters to abandon Marco Rubio.
If Americans want women to control their own bodies, qualified teachers to replace DeSantis’s culture wars in classrooms, intelligent teacher-student conversations concerning the social issues facing Americans in the 21st century, non-bullying discussion about classroom students who are different, common sense gun regulations, and a new honest approach on how best to address climate change……
AMERICANS MUST VOTE ALL REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE.
REPUBLICANS ARE AMERICA’S PROBLEM.
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