Former New York City Department of Records Commissioner Brian Andersson told Newsmax Friday that he doesn't see a "sense of urgency" in the Mar-a-Lago affidavit that would justify the raid at former President Donald Trump's home and added that this is "a very scary time for our country."
"It is puzzling that they find materials on February 9," Andersson said during an appearance on Newsmax's "The Chris Salcedo Show." "They forward it to the Department of Justice, who doesn't get around to acting on it until May 16."
"So, three months now have gone by and something is terribly wrong here?" he continued. "I don't see the sense of urgency."
In a heavily redacted, 38-page affidavit unsealed on Friday, the FBI sought to justify its unprecedented raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after claiming that 184 classified documents were mixed in with the 45th president's personal correspondence, newspapers, and magazines.
A new Convention of States-Trafalgar poll shows that nearly 70% of Republicans and almost half of people reporting no political affiliation do not trust the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) and think they are politically corrupt institutions.
When asked if the Mar-a-Lago affidavit does anything to restore Americans' confidence in the DOJ or the FBI, Andersson said, "Certainly not."
"I think there's enough Democrats, middle-of-the road Democrats — I don't know where they are — but there's certainly enough out there, I think, they feel the same way," the former records commissioner said. "This is just a very scary time for our country, where the whole government seems weaponized, and that's an overused word, but it's completely appropriate."
Amid all the redactions and associated questions, Andersson said, one thing is certain.
"But you know what?" he said. "We do know that if Donald Trump really wanted to hide something he would have put it on Hunter [Biden’s] laptop."