New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu rejected claims by fellow Republican lawmakers who have called the federal indictment against former President Donald Trump over her handling of politically classified documents, saying it was “self-inflicted”.
“I don’t see this as political,” Sununu said in an interview on “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The average person can still think he’s a politician.”
Trump is accused of 37 crimes related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House in January 2021. indictment that was revealed on Fridaythe Justice Department alleged that Trump kept classified documents in boxes stored at Mar-a-Lago, included in a bathroom and shower, a ballroom and his bedroom. The documents allegedly contained information about US nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the US and its allies to a military attack and plans for possible retaliation in response to an attack, according to the indictment.
“Unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could jeopardize the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the security of the United States military and human resources, and the continued viability of intelligence gathering methods. sensitive intelligence,” the indictment said.
The former president, who denies any wrongdoing, is also accused of showing classified documents to others who did not have security clearance to see them and also of obstructing the efforts of the Archives Administration and National and Department of Justice records to retrieve documents.
Sununu said that if even half of the allegations in the indictment are true, then Trump has “a real problem.”
“He had every chance in the world to get all those files and documents back,” Sununu said. “He did the opposite. He bragged about keeping it. So this is very self-inflicted.”
Sununu, who decided not to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nominationencouraged Trump’s Republican opponents to unite in condemning the former president.
“They have to come out and recognize that this is different, that this is serious,” he said. “I see a lot of the candidates trying to walk it, ‘We’ll see what happens.’ … You’re running against this guy. He’s beating you by 40 points. Everybody has to come out in concert. So it’s not just Chris Christie bashing Donald Trump … It’s a party message. This is very, very important because Donald Trump does not represent the Republican Party, he only represents himself.”
However, Trump’s 2024 challengers have largely criticized the Biden administration and the Department of Justice.
Although Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as Trump’s top rival, initially said that “arming federal law enforcement poses a deadly threat to a free society,” he had stronger words at a campaign event in North Carolina on Friday.
“Look when I was in Congress, I remember, you know, Hillary had the classified emails, and my view was, well, you know, as a naval officer, if I had brought classified into my apartment, I would have been a court martial in a New York minute,” DeSantis said. “And yet they don’t seem to care about that. And is there a different standard for a Democratic secretary of state versus a former Republican president? I think there needs to be a standard of justice in this country. Let’s get everyone involved and let’s do it Sure we all know the rules. You can’t have one faction of society arming the power of the state against factions it doesn’t like and that’s what you see.”
On Thursday, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina also criticized what he called the weaponization of the Justice Department. Former Vice President Mike Pence said it was a sad day for the country. Nikki Haley, who served as UN ambassador under Trump, called it “prosecutorial overreach.” And businessman Vivek Ramaswamy promised to pardon Trump if elected.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie argued that the alleged conduct shows Trump is not a formidable opponent for President Joe Biden, while former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson called on Trump to end his campaign.
Jake Rosen, Melissa Quinn, Robert Legare and Sarah Ewall-Wice contributed to the report.
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