Republicans have moved to turn the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate into a campaign issue, vowing to probe what they alleged was political interference at the Justice Department if they win majorities in Congress in November.
Donald's Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate was raided by FBI on Tuesday Photo: AFP / Giorgio Viera
Trump's allies in the House of Representatives and the Senate said the FBI's search for documents Trump removed from the White House was meant to sideline Trump as a possible 2024 presidential contender.
"When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned," House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said on Twitter soon after Trump disclosed the raid on Monday evening.
"Attorney General (Merrick) Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar," he added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the chamber's top Democrat, scoffed at Republican claims that Garland had politicized the FBI, pointing out that agency director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump.
"What would you expect them to say?" Pelosi chuckled to reporters in the US Capitol. "That's typical of them to try to undermine a person."
Republicans are favored to win a majority in the House, and have a chance of reclaiming the Senate, in the Nov. 8 midterm elections. They could use either to launch probes.
Trump's own reputation has taken a hit within his own party in recent weeks, following congressional hearings into his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by his followers. One third of Republican respondents to a Reuters/Ipsos poll last month said they think Trump should not run for president again in 2024.
Trump's son Eric acknowledged that the search was part of an investigation into the former president's removal of official records from the White House to his Florida estate. The FBI action marked an escalation of a federal records probe, one of several investigations Trump is facing from his time in office and in private business.
But Republicans ignored the possibility of a serious records breach.
"Political targeting is the hallmark of a Banana Republic, not the United States," Republican Representative Vern Buchanan vowed on Twitter. "House Republicans will exert strong oversight next year."
Republicans spent years probing Trump's 2016 rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, over her use of a private server for official emails during her tenure as secretary of state, an investigation that grew out of the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump encouraged his supporters to regularly chant "Lock her up," at his rallies, threatening to turn the Justice Department against Clinton if elected.
"I served on Benghazi Com where we proved Hilliary possessed classified info. We didn't raid her home," former congressman Mike Pompeo, who served as Trump's secretary of state and CIA director, said in a tweet that misspelled Clinton's first name.
Trump has used the raid to solicit donations Photo: AFP / Giorgio Viera
Top Senate Republicans leaders, including minority leader Mitch McConnell, had little to say about the raid. One exception was Senator John Barrasso, the party conference chairman, who tweeted: "Raiding a former president's home is unprecedented. The Justice Department needs to quickly and transparently tell the American people who approved this raid and why it occurred."
Trump himself and some Republican campaign committees seized on the unprecedented search of a former president's home to raise campaign donations for their battle against Democrats and President Joe Biden's agenda.
Trump tried to paint the search of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach as a politically motivated move by President Joe Biden's administration even as the former president plays a key role in Republican primaries ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of the US Congress.
"They are trying to stop the Republican Party and me once more," Trump said in a fundraising email on Tuesday. "The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped."
Trump was due to dine at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Tuesday with Republican Representative Jim Banks, who chairs a leading conservative caucus, according to an aide. It was not clear whether they would be joined by other Republican lawmakers.
Mar-a-Lago raid 'unprecedented' - State attorney
Palm Beach, Florida state attorney David Aronberg told Morning Report just yesterday the world saw a photo of sensitive documents Trump flushed down the toilet.
"This is no surprise that this is an issue that's come back to haunt the former president."
The raid wasn't the just the FBI director's or attorney general's decision but a judge had to decide if probable cause of a crime existed and the Mar-a-Lago contained evidence of that crime, Aronberg said.
It was an "unprecedented" search, and one Aronberg didn't believe the Justice Department, FBI and a federal judge would approve 'based on trinkets he possessed from Kim Jong-un or a love letter, it's got to be something more than that...something more sensitive".
It had to be something Trump willfully kept from the government, he said.
"I just can't believe they would go to this extent based on an accident or negligence or relating to something that is relatively unimportant."
"This is no surprise that this is an issue that's come back to haunt the former president" - Palm Beach, Florida state attorney David Aronberg
Anything done that is unfavourable towards Trump would be seen as an attack by the Deep State by some, he said.
"You have a process in place, you have laws and rules to be followed and everything was followed. A federal judge, who is not a political appointment, he's the one who signed off on this."
The government would not give out a search warrant for the former president's home based on conjecture or even standard proof, he said.
- Reuters / RNZ