It was a "mistake" to indict former President Donald Trump on charges connected with documents in his possession, as the move was "politically unwise," former Rep. Barney Frank said on Newsmax Saturday.
"I think people said, 'Oh, this is a political indictment,'" the Massachusetts Democrat told Newsmax's "Saturday Report." "I think it's the absence of politics. First of all, let's be clear — and others have said this: There's no sign that what Trump did endangered national security."
Instead, Frank said that he thinks that documents were moved to Trump's properties in a move that was "self-indulgent and sloppy."
"I would like him to explain why he did it," said Frank. "My own guess is that there were embarrassing things in there, for example, about his love affair with the dictator of North Korea, which [he] recently reaffirmed. But there's no allegation that American national security was harmed by this."
Frank added that he'd like to see the issue of Trump work out at the ballot box in November 2024, and the "best way to do that is to run against Donald Trump."
"I think he'll be the nominee. And I would like that to be an election on the issues and the differences and the personal abilities, and not clouded by these political things," said Frank. "I think it was a political mistake to divert attention from the fundamental issue that we should be deciding next year."
Meanwhile, political analyst John Burnett, also on the program, said that there is a "double standard" in play with Trump's indictment, considering that President Joe Biden "has had documents for generations, going back to when he was a senator."
"We have a DOJ [Department of Justice]; we have the Democrats rigging it for Biden and going after Biden's political opponents," Burnett said, adding that former President Barack Obama had documents, as well as onetime Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.
"We should be ashamed of ourselves, and you know what? The whole world is ashamed of America," said Burnett.
Frank pointed out that former Vice President Mike Pence, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, also had papers in his possession but the FBI determined he would not be prosecuted.
"I don't know that the whole world is laughing at us," Frank said. "Donald Trump doesn't rate that highly with them. But that's not a factor that we should judge our policy on. What the rest of the world thinks should not be our guideline."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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