Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu accused the Mar-a-Lago raid of being politically motivated with the midterm elections around the corner during a Sunday interview.
The governor, who has appeared critical of former President Donald Trump, suggested the FBI had nearly two years to request and retrieve the requested documents stored in the former president’s home. He criticized the affidavit released by the Department of Justice Friday for being heavily redacted, arguing it is difficult to be concerned when the nation does not have any knowledge about the documents being reviewed.
“I think I speak for everyone when we’re all pretty disappointed to see is was almost all redacted,” Sununu said. “I get you got to redact certain things here and there, but you had pages, upon pages, upon pages redacted to the point where you say well, what’s the point? So when are we going to see the cards?”
“And let’s remember, this has been a year-and-a-half in the making,” Sununu continued.
“Former President Donald Trump has been out of office for going on two years now. You think this is a coincidence just happening a few months before the midterm elections and all that sort of thing, so, you know, this is unprecedented and they had to have an unprecedented strategy, which they clearly didn’t have, they’re on their heels, they don’t know what to do. We want to see the information so we can have this discussion, we can talk about the subject matter with some sense.”
Bash displayed a timeline of the FBI probe showing that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requested that Trump hand over a slew of documents in May 2021. In the fall, they grew frustrated by the delay in receiving the requested material. (RELATED: Chris Sununu Rejects Senate Bid, Says He Will Run For Reelection)
NARA received 15 boxes of material from Mar-a-Lago in January 2022, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) later subpoenaed the former president to request additional documents stored in his private residence. The DOJ’s heavily redacted affidavit revealed that 14 of the boxes handed to NARA had classification markings, which contained 25 top secret documents, 92 labeled “secret” and 67 with a “confidential” warning.
The governor has appeared critical of the former president, most notably in April where he joked that Trump was “f*cking crazy” during an annual Gridiron Club dinner.
“He’s f*cking crazy!” Sununu said. “The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy. And I’ll say it this way: I don’t think he’s so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain’t getting out!”
When asked if he is “anti-Trump,” he said is not “anti-anything.” However, he has criticized Trump for claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen and said protesters arrested at the January 6 Capitol riot should not be pardoned.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski previously said he was attempting to find a Republican opponent to replace Sununu, a three-term governor running for re-election, according to Politico.