The former Chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Michael McCaul, stretched the limits of credibility Sunday, when he tried to defend Trump for having classified documents at Mar-A-Lago.
Host Martha Raddatz asked a very basic question for a lawmaker deep in the heart of Homeland Security.
"Do you see any reason that he should have taken those documents, those classified -- highly classified documents, to Mar-A-Lago?" Raddatz asked.
Immediately, Rep. McCaul got tongue-tied.
"Well, look, I -- you know," McCaul mumbled.
Rep. McCaul knows full well, Trump should have turned over all classified documents in his possession when he left office and then afterward when the DOJ found out he was hoarding more in Florida.
Instead, McCaul went on to embarrass himself. He knows better, because he understands the nature of how a president declassifies top secrets and classified information.
"I have lived in the classified world most of my professional career, I personally wouldn’t do that. But I'm not the President of the United States. But he has a different set of rules that apply to him. The president can declassify a document at a moment’s notice. And we don’t have all the facts. I know they were taken out of The White House while he was president and whether or not he declassified those documents remains to be seen. He says he did. I don’t have all the facts there. It -- " he said until the ABC host cut him off.
"Bill Barr --basically said if he --
(CROSSTALK)
-- stood over documents and said, these are all declassified, it was -- it’s an absurd idea. You think that’s what happened?" she asked.
"There is a process for declassification. But again, the president’s in a very different position than most of us in the national security space," McCaul said.
McCaul knows full well this is complete bullsh*t.
The lengths to which Republicans will go to defend Trump's blatant disregard of basic laws, even when it comes to protecting US national security, is mind-numbing.
