Congressman Mike Turner Says Trump Needed Classified Docs at Mar-a-Lago Because It’s How Presidents ‘Write Their Memoirs’

Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH) arrived at the idea that Donald Trump might have needed to keep classified documents at Mar-a-Lago so the former president could write his memoirs.

Turner, who admitted last week that he personally wouldn’t take classified documents home, spoke with CBS’s Ed O’Keefe about the potential release of the affidavit behind the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search warrant. The House Intelligence Committee Ranking Republican called for the affidavit’s release, dismissing the Justice Department’s argument that doing so could impede their ongoing criminal investigation.

People want to make certain that if this is an imminent national security threat, that it’s pursued. But also, they want to make certain that you don’t have abuse of discretion here. And what our concern is, from our committee, is there’s an allegation of classified documents that falls within our jurisdiction, and show us what you found, because the affidavit is going to have them tell publicly now what they told the court they were going to go find. Show us what you found. It certainly won’t affect the investigation. We deal with classified documents and information all the time. Show us what it is that you went into the president’s residence, spent nine hours at former President Trump’s residence. What is it that was at an imminent national security threat that you didn’t just go to court and ask the court to order that the documents be delivered to them?

Turner was responding to a poll indicating that a majority of Americans approve of the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search. O’Keefe followed up on Turner’s comments by asking “what use could a former president have for classified or top secret information once he’s left office? Why bring it home with him to Florida?”

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, you have to ask him,” Turner answered. “But certainly, we all know that every former president has access to their documents. It’s how they write their memoirs. They don’t have, you know, great recall of everything that’s occurred in their administration. And we don’t know that they were classified. We know, according to the FBI documents, they were identified as marked classified. You have, of course, the former president saying that he declassified them himself. But I think what’s important here about this abuse of discretion, we have evidence of the FBI abusing that discretion and of misconduct on behalf of the FBI.”

Trump tried defending himself by claiming Barack Obama also kept classified materials after his presidency, though the National Archives and Records Administration rejected that comparison over a week ago. Turner also touched on Trump’s claim of having a “standing order” to declassify the documents he took with him, but that explanation was also shot down by over a dozen ex-Trump officials.

Turner went on by reiterating his point that the FBI must be questioned about possible “abuses of discretion” regarding the Mar-a-Lago raid. One example he raised against the bureau was when FBI agents raided Project Veritas members months ago to investigate the theft of a diary stolen from President Joe Biden’s daughter.

Watch above, via CBS.