Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) has gone over to the dark side. New Hampshire is a conservative state, but it is not MAGA country. In 2020, Sununu received 151,000 more votes than Trump, who lost the state. Granite Staters like their guns, but they are “live and let live” people who think the other fellow’s concerns are their own damn business. And that the government should stay out of people’s bedrooms and women's uteruses. And for most of his time in office since 2017, he has had little good to say about Trump — a man he once called “fucking crazy.”
But the FBI, serving a judicially-approved warrant at Mar-a-Lago, has caused him to join the braying pack of rabid right-wingers. He has adopted the language of diversion and sneered at government officials doing their job. In short, he has shape-shifted into another Trump apologist.
When asked by CNN’s Dana Bash (he is a rare Republican politician who will go on CNN) what he thought of the redacted affidavit, he replied,
“If you’re going to take unprecedented action and raid a former President’s house, you better have a strategy for unprecedented transparency. I think we’re all concerned about what might be in those documents. Some were classified, some weren’t, what the serious nature was, but show us! You’ve gotta to be able to show your cards when you’re taking actions like this.”
Releasing even a redacted affidavit was “unprecedented transparency”. The DoJ seals these things so the potential criminal cannot intimidate witnesses or know what evidence to interfere with. As for serving a warrant on an ex-President's home (it was no raid, the agents did not even carry guns) the actions of this ex-President are unprecedented. And in all likelihood, the FBI would have served a search warrant on the last crook in the White House if Ford had not pardoned Nixon.
Sununu also ignores that, while Trump demanded the unredacted affidavit to be released, his lawyers have not taken the matter to court. And the affidavit was released only in response to news organizations suing for its publication
Sununu added,
“What’s the subject matter? What’s the dates? What’s the times? What are we talking about here?…I’m not saying put all the documents on the Internet, but give us some sense of the subject matter. Give us some sense of the timing. Give us some sense of what really drove us in there.”
Has he not read the warrant and unredacted parts of the affidavit? Between them, they outline the potential crimes Trump has committed. And the affidavit details how many calm requests for the documents were stone-walled, while Trump’s lawyers swore they had handed over all the documents asked for.
What more does Sununu need? The answer is nothing. He is just playing politics. He makes this clear when he adds,
“This has been a year and a half in the making. Former President Trump has been out of office for going on two years now. You think this is a coincidence just happening a few months before the midterm elections and all that sort of thing? So, you know, this is unprecedented. They had to have an unprecedented strategy, which they clearly didn’t have. They’re on their heels. They don’t know what to do. We want to see the information so we can have this discussion, we can talk about the subject matter with some sense.”
Sununu knows it took this long because Trump dragged his heels and ignored requests for the documents to be returned. Hell, the whole affair would have been unnecessary if sticky-fingers had not taken what was not his in the first place.
As for the timing — “a few months before the midterm elections” — I suspect that the confidential informant providing evidence had only recently realized how sensitive the information was. Or the CI had gotten wind that Trump was on the verge of making a deal to sell the information shortly. What was the DoJ supposed to do? Declare that the pre-election period was an extended “Purge” when all crime is legal?
America does not put on Soviet-style show trials. The authorities are not going to detain Trump before his day in court. He will have the best lawyers that money can buy — if he can find any competent attorneys who are willing to work with him. (Any qualified and able lawyer, who does hold their nose and agrees to represent Trump, had better make sure they get all the money upfront in a retainer.)
If there is a trial — and the smart money is behind an obstruction charge — the procedure will reveal everything in the affidavit. Trump’s lawyers will, in turn, have at it. And the court will subject the proceedings to the rules of evidence
Sununu makes a big deal about the “unprecedented” nature of this ugly affair. I guarantee that Merrick Garland is well aware that America has entered terra incognito. As such, he would have ensured, with a team of experienced prosecutors, that the likelihood of finding evidence leading to an indictment was almost 100%. He knows the DoJ is under a GOP microscope. And unlike executive branch appointments under Trump, Garland cares deeply for the institution he heads. And will not risk its tarnishment.
The unanswered question is why Sununu took this path. He is running for his fourth term as Governor and is popular in the state. It seems politically unnecessary to suck up to a man he clearly thinks is second-rate. But Republican politics is now all about the primaries. And the primaries are controlled by the base.
In next-door Massachusetts, a state also headed by a popular but term-limited, moderate Republican, Charlie Baker, the GOP primary to find a replacement is a contest between the Trump-backed Geoff Diehl and the mainstream conservative Chris Doughty. Although Sununu supports Doughty, he may be trying to hedge his bets.
And down in Maryland, the Trump-backed, MAGA extremist, Dan Cox, won the GOP primary to replace another popular, term-limited, moderate Republican Governor, Larry Hogan.
The Northeast was the last redoubt for Rockefeller Republicans. No more. Barring catastrophe, the GOP will lose the Governorships of two blue states. And Sununu seems eager to compromise his values to ensure there is no chance he travels the same road.