- Hutchinson says fellow GOP members should "pull back" judgment around the FBI.
- Agents searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and seized classified documents.
- The move was met with some backlash from Trump allies and Republicans who rallied around the former president.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says that fellow GOP members need to "pull back on casting judgment" on the FBI after the agency's search of former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents.
During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, host Brianna Keilar asked Hutchison if Trump and "some Republicans putting the lives of the FBI's men and women at risk?"
"Well, if the GOP is going to be the party of supporting law enforcement, law enforcement includes the FBI," Hutchinson responded. "As a United States attorney, I work with the FBI, the DEA, the federal law enforcement agencies. Those folks on the ground do extraordinarily heroic efforts to enforce our rule of law, which is fundamental to the Republican Party and to our democracy."
Hutchinson continued: "The FBI is part of that. And so, yes, we need to pull back on casting judgment on them. No doubt that they have higher-ups in the FBI has made mistakes. They do it. I have defended cases as well. And I have seen wrong actions.
—CNN (@CNN) August 14, 2022
The FBI executed a search warrant at Trump's Florida property last week, resulting in federal agents seizing 11 sets of classified documents — some marked as top secret. In a statement on Friday, Trump disputed news reports of the FBI's findings.
"Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn't need to 'seize' anything," the statement said. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request. They could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK."
The FBI's move was met with a wave of backlash from members of the GOP who are aligned with Trump, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, who called to "DEFUND THE FBI!" On Sunday, Hutchinson said that the FBI was simply doing their jobs and that it's imperative to support them.
"We cannot say that, whenever they went in and did that search, that they were not doing their job as law enforcement officers. If you want to hold people accountable, it is the Department of Justice," Hutchinson told CNN. "It is the attorney general, who said he supervised that. The FBI is simply carrying out their responsibilities under the law, a lawful search warrant that a magistrate to signed off on."
"Let's support law enforcement. Let's stand with them. Whether it's the DEA, the FBI, or your local law enforcement," he added." That's critically important that we do that, because they're simply trying to do their job and to keep anarchy away from our country."