Kevin McCarthy gave a bewildering defence of former President Donald Trump storing classified documents in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom, noting that bathroom doors have locks.
The speaker was asked by a reporter on Monday if it was a “good look” for Mr Trump to have boxes of documents in his bathroom. In images released by the Department of Justice, the boxes can be seen in a bathroom with a chandelier.
“I don’t know,” Mr McCarthy said. “Is it a good picture to have boxes in a garage that opens up all the time? A bathroom door locks.”
The speaker was referencing the ongoing investigation into documents found at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware. Some of the files were stored in his garage.
“[You] have a lot of these documents behind a Corvette in a garage with the door wide open,” he added. “You’ve got a son of, Hunter Biden, who knows who he had there, in and out.”
Classified documents were found at the home of Mr Biden in addition to his office, but the case leading to the Department of Justice indicting Mr Trump is focused on his attempts to avoid giving back the documents and hindering the department’s investigation.
Unlike Mr Trump, Mr Biden and his legal team are reported to have made the government aware of the documents and have since cooperated with the authorities.
Mr Trump has been charged with violating the Espionage Act, and the 37 counts he’s facing also include charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a record or document, and concealing a document in a federal investigation.
The authorities have said that they also found evidence that Mr Trump showed sensitive information to people not authorised to see it.
In a recording from July 2021, Mr Trump takes part in a meeting during which he discussed a document that he said was “highly confidential”.
“Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Mr Trump said at the time.
“See as president I could have declassified it … Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret,” he added.
Mr Trump has since claimed that “everything about the boxes was so neat, orderly, and clean,” but the images shared by DoJ indicate that the boxes weren’t stored in secure locations, such as the bathroom and a Mar-a-Lago ballroom.
