Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, questions Gordon Sondland, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, during a House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, November 20, 2019.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN anchor Jake Tapper he could not defend former President Donald Trump’s behavior as described in the federal charges against him. and his handling of classified documents while insisting that prosecutors will have to “prove” whether he really broke the law.
“Now, as far as this litigation is concerned, it will go ahead. And I certainly will not defend the behavior that is listed in this complaint. But they will have to prove it. And it’s a legal process that’s going to have to go forward,” said Turner, who has repeatedly defended Trump over the past year, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Tapper asked Turner about the classified documents federal authorities seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and how Republicans have struggled to defend Trump. The investigation into Trump’s mishandling of documents led to his arrest and arrest last week.
“You care about national security. When you saw the insecure way these documents were stored at Mar-a-Lago, did it make your stomach turn? Tapper asked Turner.
“Well, that’s certainly a serious concern,” Turner replied. He explained that he and the leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees reviewed the documents that Trump and Biden had respectively.
“And I can tell you that, having reviewed these two documents, I am very concerned that these two types of documents are in an unsecured location. Both contained details of national security issues that should not have been outside of a controlled environment,” Turner added.
Yet Turner has already defended Trump’s mishandling of documents.
Last August, Turner suggested that the documents found in the investigation were “not necessarily things that are really classified.” That same month, he completely questioned the FBI investigation and demanded in a letter that FBI Director Christopher Wray explain why they searched Trump’s residence.
“There has to be something higher in national security for him to do this. Remember that President Trump has more classified documents in his head than he will have in his office. But still, they raided his house to see what he had in his office. I think the American public wants answers,” Turner explained to CNNby Pamela Brown in August 2022.
Turner previously said he wouldn’t keep any classified documents. In a February interview with Tapper, the Republican said he was “puzzled” as to why a Chosen One would do this.
“I don’t get it with Biden, Pence or Trump,” he said.