Rubio on Trump WH records probe: "It's not a crime, I don't believe"
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Sen. Marco Rubio during a September Senate hearing on Capitol Hill. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) rejected suggestions during a Fox News appearance Monday that Republicans aren't expressing as much alarm over concerns about Donald Trump's handling of presidential records as they were over Hillary Clinton's private emails.
Why it matters: The former president made Clinton's private email server use when she was secretary of state a focus of his 2016 presidential campaign when he ran against her and continued to highlight it during his presidency.
- Now, Republicans who once railed against Clinton are either silent or have argued that the National Archives and Records Administration has treated Trump "harshly" after NARA asked the Justice Department to investigate his handling of presidential records, the New York Times notes.
Driving the news: A Democratic strategist and former Clinton aide has accused Republicans of "hypocrisy," while Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said "Why is the Archives handling this differently?" per the NYT.
- Fox News "Special Report" host Bret Baier asked Rubio on Monday evening why Republicans didn't seem as worried about concerns about Trump keeping presidential records at his Mar-a-Largo residence in Florida as they were over Clinton's emails.
What he's saying: "I don't know what's true and what's not because they have made up so many stories about Donald Trump over the years," responded Rubio, who's up for re-election in November.
- "Nowadays, in the mainstream media, you just need one source to smear Donald Trump, and maybe you don't even need that," Rubio added.
"So it's hard to tell anymore what really happened and what didn't. The documents that were in Mar-a-Lago by all accounts were turned over ... if the process wasn't followed there, then that there needs to be something that happens about that. It's not a crime, I don't believe."— Sen. Marco Rubio on Fox News
For the record: Under the Presidential Records Act, a president is required to immediately turn in presidential records to the national archivist as soon as they leave office.
- The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into whether Trump violated the Presidential Records Act after the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago.
