'Bless his heart': Jeb Bush says Trump’s handling of documents a 'far cry' from his father's

Stephen Proctor

Former GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appeared Thursday on Your World With Neil Cavuto and responded to former President Donald Trump’s accusation that Bush’s late father, former President George H.W. Bush, mishandled government documents after leaving office. Trump accused the 41st president of taking millions of documents to a former bowling alley and former Chinese restaurant.

"George H.W. Bush took millions of documents to a former bowling alley and a former Chinese restaurant, where they combined them. So they're in a bowling alley-slash-Chinese restaurant," Trump said at an Arizona rally earlier this month.

“Have you heard the southern expression, ‘Bless his heart’?” Bush said when asked about it. “You know, it’s, uh, bless his heart. I mean, this is kind of a weird accusation.”

Bush went on to explain how his father’s documents were handled by the National Archives.

“This was an abandoned bowling alley that they fixed up, that they secured, that had all the security necessary to make sure that national security matters were protected,” Bush said, “and they used that to build out the presidential library, just as every other president has done as well.”

As for Trump adding the part about the Chinese restaurant, Bush believes he was just trying to rile up his base.

“I think the added little feature of the Chinese restaurant,” Bush said, “kind of makes it all easier for the conspiratorialists [sic] to get all hot and bothered."

Trump has also accused former President Barack Obama of taking classified documents with him when he left office, an accusation the National Archives was quick to debunk. The documents Trump was referring to are not only not classified, but they’re currently being stored at a National Archives facility outside Chicago. All classified documents remain in a D.C. facility.

Trump’s continued accusations come amid mounting losses for him and his legal team in the case against him for taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago home. Bush believes that Trump is trying to equate what he did with the legal actions of other former presidents.

“I think what he wants to say is there — you know, everybody does it, basically. Everybody takes documents and store them at their, you know, at their hotel or at a bowling alley, and that he didn’t do anything wrong,” Bush said, adding, “The simple fact is that equating the National Archives employees doing their duty in the proper way is a far cry from keeping national security papers in Mar-a-Lago.”

Your World With Neil Cavuto airs weeknights at 4 p.m. on Fox News Channel.

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