Source: Politics<\/p>\n
The investigation into Donald Trump\u2019s handling of classified national security records is forcing Republicans into a strained defense during a pre-midterm sprint in which they\u2019d much rather be talking about Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
After having decried the FBI\u2019s search of the ex-president\u2019s home, many Trump defenders went silent upon the release on Friday of the probable-cause affidavit that revealed the extent of Trump\u2019s efforts to hold onto the top-secret documents. GOP worries about the developments of the case and Trump announcing a 2024 run before November are giving way to a subtle, broader warning about putting the former president too much on the ballot this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepublicans should focus on defeating Democrats, and every Democrat should have the word Biden in front of their name,\u201d said Trump ally and former Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich. \u201cThe Republican focus should be to win the election in November. Trump will do a fine job defending himself. He\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some top Republicans acknowledge the growing angst and concern, as it\u2019s become clearer that Trump may have been warehousing some of America\u2019s most sensitive secrets in an unsecured basement \u2014 and even refused to turn them over when the National Archives and Justice Department tried to recover them. One top Republican fundraiser asked to describe the mood among donors, said, \u201cThere is enormous frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is, is there willingness to express that frustration,\u201d the fundraiser added. \u201cI don’t know the answer to that. But there is real frustration, and with the exception of people who are too stupid to understand the need to be frustrated, it is nearly universal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strained defenses and private frustrations are familiar emotions for some Republicans during the Trump era. But the stakes are particularly high this fall, with projections of a red wave in the House getting dimmed to a smaller GOP majority and as Sen. Chuck Schumer<\/a> appears potentially poised to remain in control of the Senate.<\/p>\n In interviews, some GOP operatives insisted that there was a \u201cbeen-there, done-that\u201d feeling to the current news cycle. David Kochel, a longtime Iowa operative and a critic of the former president, said that\u2019s why he would \u201calways counsel for more caution.\u201d He felt the GOP\u2019s response was rooted in the conviction that media coverage of Trump was inherently over-torqued.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter five years of this,\u201d he said, \u201cI think a lot of these Republican members are sick of it all and just punch back. It’s Pavlovian at this point. They punch back at the media who they think is always unfair to Trump and none of these things are as bad as they’re made out to be in the press. They’re not going to frog march him out of Mar-a-Lago.\u201d<\/p>\n But the current issues facing Trump are also different in critical ways. For starters, he doesn\u2019t have the powers of the presidency anymore. And, more uncharacteristically, he\u2019s so far avoided the spotlight.<\/p>\n In the weeks since the search of Mar-a-Lago, the former president has been off the airwaves, even eschewing appearances on friendly shows. Instead, he\u2019s blasted out self-defenses on his social media site Truth Social and through his Save America super PAC.<\/p>\n The more he speaks for himself, however, the more political headaches he creates for Republicans. On Monday, he bluntly proposed that he be crowned the \u201crightful winner\u201d of a 2020 election fairly won by Biden, or that a determination be made that the ballot was \u201cirreparably compromised.\u201d He suggested a do-over of the election in the case of the latter.<\/p>\n Trump is expected to address the FBI search at his first public appearance for a Saturday Save America rally in support of endorsed candidates in Scranton, Pa. this coming weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people would expect him to go on Fox, go on radio shows, go on primetime shows, Newsmax, OAN, one on one interviews, and do a media blitz,\u201d said one person close to the Trump operation. \u201cHe\u2019s not doing media, but the surrogates are out there, the lawyers are out there, which is smart from a legal standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n When news first broke that the FBI had gone into Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago home, many Republicans called it a politically motivated witch hunt. But on Capitol Hill, at least, Trump\u2019s backers are starting to climb down from their initial anti-FBI clamor and offering a hodgepodge of potential explanations as more details of the investigation emerge.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s warehousing of highly classified records at Mar-a-Lago was fine because the estate is secure, some defenders said. Others said the FBI search was simply a distraction from inflation and gas prices.<\/p>\n Ohio Rep. Mike Turner<\/a>, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, contended on Fox News<\/a> that the search stemmed from classified documents handling closer to \u201ca bookkeeping issue than a national security threat.\u201d Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who\u2019s facing a stiff reelection challenge this fall, argued that \u201cthere was probably far greater danger to national security based on what Hillary Clinton did.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Johnson, many Republicans pointed to Trump\u2019s 2016 opponent, who was investigated for retaining classified records on a private email server but ultimately not prosecuted after the FBI indicated her case lacked the typical aggravating factors common in Espionage Act cases. Johnson\u2019s remarks also seemed to ignore recent reports of unauthorized individuals gaining access to Mar-a-Lago \u2014 even to Trump personally.<\/p>\n Other Republicans, however, have moved subtly away from defending Trump to warning about what might come if \u2014 as is increasingly suspected \u2014 he is indicted. Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a> (R-S.C.), who\u2019s fending off efforts<\/a> to testify in another Trump-related probe, warned on Fox News that any \u201cprosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information\u201d would ultimately result in \u201criots in the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n In the background is Trump himself, demanding fealty from Republicans, declaring the U.S. a \u201dthird world\u201d nation and ratcheting up his grievance-fueled attacks on the Justice Department and FBI, all while violent threats against his detractors are on the rise.<\/p>\n And the Republican lawmakers who took to TV to back up Trump this week are senior conference members and close allies. When Congress returns to Washington next month, the entire GOP is in for a bout of 2017 d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu with a Capitol press corps that\u2019s bound to fire off Trump questions rather than the Biden-centric themes that the party would rather hit.<\/p>\n Even if the topic were to turn to the Biden administration, the president is coming off a period of rising approval ratings and surprising legislative success while Trump keeps offering relitigations of 2020.<\/p>\n It\u2019s enough to make even some more seasoned GOP incumbents resort to rhetorical gymnastics to put the onus back on the 2020 victor; Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Monday accused the Biden administration of seeking the Mar-a-Lago search warrant simply to hurt the GOP\u2019s chances in November.<\/p>\n \u201cWith all of the crises that have happened during this administration, they needed a little bit of a distraction,\u201d Ernst said Monday on Fox News. \u201cAnd this was [a] prime opportunity for this administration to pounce on President Trump, make it about this raid, rather than about the own problems they have manufactured in the last two years.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Sam Stein contributed reporting<\/p>\n