Sen. Marco Rubio has concerns that federal officials may withhold any details they discover about foreign involvement in the attempted assassinations of former President Donald Trump.
The Florida Republican said Sunday he trusts FBI agents but knows their bosses to be biased.
“I’m speculating, I’m not saying I know this to be true or even that I think it’s true, but let’s say there is a foreign nexus to one of these two attempts, would they allow that information to be put out there to the American public before the election in November?” Mr. Rubio told CBS’ “Face The Nation.” “I can’t tell you with 100% certainty.”
Asked if he thinks the Biden administration should share such information, Mr. Rubio said, “Yes, absolutely.”
CBS’ Margaret Brennan said Mr. Trump accused the FBI of spying on his campaign and that the Republican vice-presidential nominee has raised questions about the FBI’s seriousness. She pressed Mr. Rubio to say that he trusts the FBI and told viewers the FBI was not spying on Mr. Trump.
Mr. Rubio said that he understands the mistrust of institutions and that former intelligence officials speaking publicly about foreign influence efforts did not help restore Americans’ trust.
The top Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said he has confidence in law enforcement officials to investigate the attempted assassinations of Mr. Trump but he remains unsure of the people in management positions above them.
“I trust rank-and-file, [in]-the-field FBI agents to do their job, I don’t know what their leadership in some of these agencies and the mid-level will do with it, because you’ve seen a history in the past of there being bias,” Mr. Rubio said. “I hope that’s not true.”
Mr. Rubio said he may learn more details on foreign influence efforts later this week.
Iran has targeted Mr. Trump’s campaign and attempted to steal and share information from the former president’s team, according to the Biden administration.
Information about Mr. Rubio was reported to be included among the stolen material that was shared with select reporters. The administration said last week that President Biden’s campaign also received some stolen material.
Mr. Rubio told CBS he does not know what information of his was involved but he doubts it is anything people could not already find by searching online through old news reports.
Speaking about Iran’s efforts to disrupt the 2024 election, Mr. Rubio said it is pretty clear that Iran’s government wants Mr. Trump to die.
“Iran has, it seems to be more specifically focused on Donald Trump … it’s been now publicly documented, they’re trying to kill him,” Mr. Rubio said. “So if Iran’s trying to kill Donald Trump they most certainly don’t want him to win the election.”
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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