Rep. Dan Crenshaw is not a MAGA favorite, to say the least.
And now he's trying to make nice with his party's base.
On Jake Tapper's show this weekend, Crenshaw made believe Trump would have cooperated if he was asked by the FBI to give back those boxes of top secret government documents.
Dan? Is anybody home?
They did. He lied. His lawyers signed a document affirming that ALL the documents had been returned. They had not.
CRENSHAW: And look, again, why not just ask him? Why not just ask him?
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: But didn't they? I thought they'd been negotiating and trying to get the information from him. And...
CRENSHAW: And he cooperated.
TAPPER: But he didn't turn over boxes and boxes of materials, as far as the Justice Department says.
CRENSHAW: But he's been cooperating.
And he -- and I think he's on the record saying, whatever you need from us, just ask. It's great to see you guys. I mean, it was a very friendly environment. There's no reason...
TAPPER: But his lawyers said they didn't have any more classified information, and the Justice Department said, yes, you do. And they went and got it.
And the only reason we know about the raid was because Donald Trump announced it.
CRENSHAW: Right. Well, I think we would have figured it out, even if he hadn't.
But, look, the lawyers did sign the document that they have nothing left. Now that's either a huge mistake on the part of the lawyers. But even if -- even if it was nefarious again, why not say, hey, we don't believe you, now, let us come back, and let's go through these boxes again? There's tons of boxes here.
I mean, do we do -- do any of us really believe that Donald Trump is, like, reading his nuclear secrets on his bedside at night?
Crenshaw was ridiculous, but he didn't stop there.
CRENSHAW: And so that's why a lot of us jumped to the conclusion that this was highly politicized, because it was so unnecessary to do an armed raid to resolve this particular issue that could have been resolved very easily otherwise.
TAPPER: I think a lot of Justice Department people would take issue with your descriptions, but I'm not here to defend the Justice Department.
How many times does Trump get to give the middle finger to the rule of law, especially dealing with top secret documents?
As for Jake Tapper, who usually is very good.
It was an interview where he refused to engage much, and the CNN host knows his stuff. telling the truth is not defending the DOJ or anybody. It just is.
I wonder if orders came down from above to not push back too hard?
