House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan took to the airwaves Sunday to defend Donald Trump after a grand jury charged the former president with mishandling classified documents.
The Ohio Republican characterized the charges as politically motivated and inconsistent with how other high-profile figures have been treated over alleged wrongdoing.
“This is as political as it gets,” Mr. Jordan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And frankly, it’s part of a pattern. We’ve seen it time and time again with the president over the last seven years. They try one thing then they try another. They’ve continued to go after him, and I think anyone with common sense can see that.”
Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
The 37-count indictment laid out allegations that Mr. Trump stored classified materials throughout his South Florida Mar-a-Lago resort and tried to rebuff the federal government’s attempts to recover them.
Mr. Jordan said the indictment was irrelevant because Mr. Trump declassified the material.
Prosecutors cited in the indictment a private conversation the 2024 Republican presidential candidate allegedly had with someone in which he boasted about having secret documents, suggesting he did not declassify them.
“If he wants to store material in a box in a bathroom, if he wants to store it in a box on the stage, he can do that. That is just what the law and the standard is,” Mr. Jordan said. “This just underscores how political this whole thing is.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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