House Republicans and former President Donald Trump’s allies erupted in outrage late Monday after he revealed the FBI searched his South Florida home of Mar-a-Lago, with the GOP leader in the House vowing to open investigations into the Justice Department if Republicans retake control of the House in the November midterm elections.
Following Trump’s revelation that FBI investigators “raided” his club, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy advised Attorney General Merrick Garland to “preserve your papers and clear your schedule.”
McCarthy remarked, “The Department of Justice has reached an untenable level of weaponized partisanship.” “When Republicans regain control of the House, we will undertake swift scrutiny of this agency, adhere to the facts, and leave no stone unturned.”
According to CBS News, the FBI search is related to a Justice Department probe into allegations by the National Archives and Papers Administration that it collected 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago in mid-January, some of which included classified data.
According to a US law enforcement person acquainted with some of the search warrant action and a source close to Trump, the FBI collected boxes and paperwork from Mar-a-Lago on Monday, and it seems that no gadgets were taken. According to the two sources, some, if not all, of the papers are possibly classified material.
The National Archives requested an investigation into Trump’s handling of White House records earlier this year, and the agency told a House committee in February that it found “items marked as classified national security information” within the boxes it retrieved, and that staff had been in “communication with the Department of Justice.”
At the time of the Archives’ referral, the former president said that he had “collaborative and polite talks” with the agency about the boxes of presidential materials, and that his cooperation was part of an attempt to “help preserve the Trump legacy.”
McCarthy and other House Republicans promptly accused the Justice Department of waging a politically motivated campaign against President Biden’s potential rival in 2024 in reaction to the FBI’s execution of the search warrant, an unprecedented step against a former president.
There is no evidence that the search was part of any attempt to target a political opponent, and the White House has gone to considerable measures under Mr. Biden to minimize his and senior officials’ communications with high-ranking Justice Department officials discussing sensitive investigations. According to a senior White House official, the West Wing was not informed of the FBI’s search of Trump’s house.
Nonetheless, Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan told Fox News that the search was “unbelievable,” and that FBI Director Chris Wray and Garland should appear before the House about their conduct.
“Why don’t Chris Wray and Merrick Garland appear before us on Friday and answer our questions?” he said. “If going after President Trump in this unprecedented manner is so necessary, then come and answer our questions before the House Judiciary Committee.”
The House will return to Washington on Friday to vote on Democrats’ $740 billion climate, tax, and health-care plan.
Former Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday that he shares “the grave concern of millions of Americans about the unprecedented search of President Trump’s personal house.”
“After years of FBI agents being discovered to be acting on political motive during our administration,” he said in a series of tweets, “the perception of ongoing partisanship by the Justice Department must be addressed.” “Today’s action undermines public trust in our judicial system, and Attorney General Garland must give the American people a clear explanation of why this action was taken, and he must do it promptly.”
Rep. Mike Turner, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, demanded a briefing on the search’s grounds in a letter to Wray on Monday.
“This action is unparalleled in our country’s history. As the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I am not aware of any real or claimed national security concern presented by any information, data, or documents in former President Trump’s possession “He wrote something. “Congress is entitled to quick responses from you on the acts you directed.”
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also condemned the Justice Department and FBI’s “apparent political weaponization,” saying that carrying out a search warrant against a former president is “hazardous.”
“AG must explain why this raid upended 250 years of tradition,” he tweeted.
The FBI’s search was mostly ignored by Senate Republican leaders, while Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, termed it “very disturbing.”
“We need answers RIGHT NOW. The FBI must explain what they did today and why “He tweeted about it.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina adopted a more cautious response, telling “CBS Mornings” that “we need to let this play out and see precisely what happens,” while adding that “what transpired yesterday should have startled, amazed, and horrified us.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called the FBI’s inquiry a “political witch hunt,” a word often used by Trump to attack the investigation into Russian intervention in the 2016 election conducted by former special counsel Robert Mueller and the Justice Department.
While the former president and his supporters accuse Mr. Biden and Democrats of “weaponizing” the Justice Department against a potential political opponent, Trump himself frequently attacked the department during his presidency and called for individual Democrats to be investigated by federal law enforcement, including Mr. Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and California Rep. Adam Schiff.
Share on Facebook «||» Share on Twitter «||» Share on Reddit «||» Share on LinkedIn