'Not just some carnival barker': Ex-RNC head agrees DOJ gave Trump special treatment
Former President Donald Trump has reacted to his Espionage Act indictment by attacking President Joe Biden, the Department of Justice and the FBI for what he calls a political conspiracy against him.
In fact, the former head of the GOP said Thursday he's had VIP treatment – and he made it impossible for prosecutors to help him.
"What is abundantly clear to me ... Trump was given a million chances," said MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" anchor Nicolle Wallace Thursday.
"He's a cat with 99 lives. They looked at him and they're like we don't want to go but we got it on tape. We still don't want to go. But man, it's human intelligence. They did everything to not go get the stuff. And at the end of the day he was so corrupt, he was so obstructive and it was all on tape. I mean, this is the most restrained investigation into classified documents ... this is the most restrained effort to retrieve state secrets we will probably ever know about in our lifetime."
"I agree a hundred thousand percent," said Steele. "And the thing that animates that strained approach, or restrained approach, is the fact that you're dealing with a former president and this idea of what's — you know, this is unprecedented. And the problem, Nicolle, is that we always put the burden of what's unprecedented on those who are actually required to do their job."
"It's not unprecedented that the FBI or the Department of Justice or any law enforcement agent or any attorney general or anybody else around the country in this space would respond the way they would respond if it wasn't a president, right?" Steele continued. "You take secret documents, guess who's going to knock on your door, right? And there's not going to be gnashing of teeth and writing memos inside of any agency to pick your behind up and bring you in not just for questioning but for booking and processing, right?"
What isn't discussed enough, added Steele, is "the president isn't part of what the FBI did or how the Justice Department responds. The unprecedented part is a president did it. It is the action of the individual that is unprecedented. The process in responding to that action is what is the rule of law. It is what should have happened. What makes it different is that we check ourselves and we hesitate because you know damn well you otherwise wouldn't and because Trump is a former president and not just some carnival barker from New York, right, who happens to have his name on buildings. We slow the roll on this process, which creates the kind of instability around the narrative that you see play out."
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