‘Bless His Heart’: Jeb Bush Responds to Trump’s False Allegation About His Father’s Handling of Government Documents
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) shrugged off former President Donald Trump’s suggestion that his father George H.W. Bush mishandled government documents upon leaving office.
The FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August, where they found thousands of government documents, some of which are classified. Trump was supposed to turn the material over to the National Archives, but kept it for himself instead.
In response to criticisms about his improper retention of official documents, Trump attempted to claim other former presidents had acted similarly.
“George H.W. Bush took millions of documents to a former bowling alley and a former Chinese restaurant; where they combined them,” Trump said at a rally. “So they’re in a bowling alley slash Chinese restaurant.”
Trump’s implication that Bush handled government material in the same way he did is wrong. The National Archives transported the documents in question to a facility in College Station, Texas ahead of the opening of his presidential library in the city. The records were moved and stored in accordance with government protocol.
On Thursday, Fox News host Neil Cavuto asked Jeb! Bush for his reaction to Trump’s claim.
“Just last week Donald Trump had cited your father, your late father, George H.W. Bush – the former president of the United States – as someone who had papers. He said he took millions and millions of documents to a former bowling alley,” Cavuto said. “They were pieced together in what was an old and broken Chinese restaurant. In order words, they were stored a place like that. I didn’t quite understand the attack line, but I did want to give you the opportunity to respond to that.”
“Sure,” Bush replied. “I mean, have you heard the southern expression ‘bless his heart’?”
“I have, indeed,” Cavuto answered.
“Bless his heart,” Bush stated. “This is kind of a weird accusation. The National Archives – when they’re building these presidential libraries – have to find a place to store all of the documents that are going to go into the archives at the presidential libraries. And this was an abandoned bowling alley that they fixed up, that they secured, that had all the security necessary to make sure that national security matters were protected. And they used that to build out the presidential library.”
Cavuto mused about Trump’s inclusion of a Chinese restaurant in his story.
“Well, the Chinese restaurant as well.” the host said. “That part lost me. I do remember [something] about a temporary storage facility as the library was being built. In fact, I distinctly remember that. But where did that come from? Was he insinuating that your father had a link to China there?”
“I think that’s what he’s trying to do,” Bush responded. “It was a little too subtle for me to completely grab. But the fact is that I think what he wants to say is, ‘Everybody does it,’ basically. Everybody takes documents and stores them at their hotel or at a bowling alley and that he didn’t do anything wrong.”
Bush explained he’s not sure if Trump did anything wrong.
“Bless his heart,” he reiterated to conclude the interview.
Watch above via Fox News.
