(The Daily Signal) – Following an FBI raid Monday on former President Donald Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Republican members of Congress are vowing to launch an investigation into what they view as a blatantly partisan political Justice Department if they retake control of the House of Representatives in November.
“Since they took office, the Biden administration has tried to weaponize the Department of Justice and the FBI to go after political enemies,” said Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, in a statement to The Daily Signal. “While we do not know all the details yet, this raid has all the markings of a politically motivated witch hunt.”
On Monday evening, Trump released a statement claiming that Mar-a-Lago had been raided by the FBI.
While details on the raid are still forthcoming, the FBI reportedly conducted the operation as part of an ongoing federal investigation into whether Trump removed classified records from the White House and brought them to Mar-a-Lago.
Photos and reporting from the scene indicated there was a sizable FBI presence, though there hasn’t been an exact number of agents cited. Neither has there been an official explanation given for the raid itself.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen the IRS targeting conservatives. We’ve seen [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] abuse. We’ve seen the Hunter Biden case … . We had the Russian collusion hoax. We had riots in cities that they didn’t follow up on,” Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, said in an interview with The Daily Signal, adding:
What the American people are seeing that’s very clear right now is the two-tiered system of justice in our nation, which goes against the bedrock of what we are as a nation.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tweeted that the Department of Justice had “reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization” and that “when Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department.”
The Associated Press reported that Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson wouldn’t comment on the raid or on whether Attorney General Merrick Garland had personally authorized it.
Many GOP lawmakers vowed to investigate officials, such as Garland, who were likely involved in authorizing the raid.
“I think there will be just a litany of people that are tied to this raid first, and then go down the list of their appointees in this administration,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., in an interview with The Daily Signal. “Who authorized what? Who knew about it?”
Norman added, “This is a threat to this democracy, to freedom, to our republic, what they’re doing. This is Gestapo-type tactics.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has officially crossed a line by weaponizing the FBI to target America’s most influential conservative leader — former president Donald Trump, a private citizen — without due process and with obvious political bias.
SIGN this petition to FBI Director Christopher Wray - condemn this blatant political policing againt former President Trump.
This single act has sent an unmistakable signal that anyone who holds a dissenting political belief from the leftist regime can have his or her life ruined by the Deep State — forcing them to defend themselves from a faceless FBI attack-arm of the federal government.
The FBI just proved that Donald Trump was right. He’s always been right.
— Benny Johnson 🍊 (@bennyjohnson) August 9, 2022
No one will ever forget this.
We cannot stand for the complete corruption and weaponization of America's law enforcement, and especially not the FBI. We must stand united, bold, and patriotic — in the name of liberty, the rule of law, and American Greatness.
SEND A BOLD MESSAGE TODAY: WE ABSOLUTELY CONDEMN THE DESPICABLE FBI RAID ON A PRIVATE AMERICAN CITIZEN — AND WE WILL NOT STOP FIGHTING FOR AMERICA FIRST!
This kind of weaponization of federal agencies against private citizens who hold a dissenting worldview is seen only in third-world countries.
This is exactly why Americans must use their voices and shout even more loudly that this country is worth saving from the ideologues on the radical left who care only about power and control.
We won’t know how fully insane the FBI raid on Trump is until we see the warrant and warrant application. But after Russiagate – years of investigation predicated largely on Clinton campaign misinformation -- if the basis for this isn’t bedrock-solid, there should be hell to pay.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 9, 2022
Destroying 30K classified emails with a hammer and bleach doesn’t get your home searched. Remember that.
— Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) August 9, 2022
American patriots will continue standing in the way of the left's attempt at hostile takeover, and will always defend America from her enemies — both foreign and domestic.
SIGN NOW: Our Founding Fathers added their names to the Declaration of Independence, and now more than ever is it important to add your name to the growing list of patriots who uphold our inalienable rights and the promise of self-government.
The @FBI raid on President Trump was approved by Director Wray, who also claimed that the illegal FISA warrants used to spy on Trump were constitutional.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 9, 2022
Today’s raid is outrageous and unjust, but predictable.
Stand up against the targeting of private American citizens from FBI raids - we refuse to back down!
Thank you.
P.S. — Nobody is safe from politically motivated attacks under the current DOJ. And with 87,000 new IRS agents joining the executive branch, the unaccountable federal government is only growing. Now is the time to push back before it’s too late! SIGN NOW AND STAND STRONG TOGETHER!
After todays raid on Mar A Lago what do you think the left plans to use those 87,000 new IRS agents for?
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 9, 2022
The sentiment was echoed by other GOP lawmakers.
Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-N.M., agreed, telling The Daily Signal, “Raiding the offices of political opponents is something that happens in corrupt banana republics, not the United States of America.”
“The American people deserve answers as to why the highest-level members of the Department of Justice [greenlighted] a raid on [President Joe Biden’s] chief political rival, with zero explanation,” said Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., in a statement to The Daily Signal, adding:
It’s unprecedented for the Department of Justice to do this to a former president.We’ve been told no information from the department, besides leaked sources. Everything pertaining to this decision and raid should be investigated.
Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, told The Daily Signal in a statement, “It’s clear that, since 2015, certain elements of FBI leadership have done everything they could to take down Donald Trump.”
Yesterday was another example of continuing the VERY dangerous practice by Democrat administrations of weaponizing the levers of power and federal law enforcement to exact political vendettas.
The top bureaucrats and Democrat political appointees of the deep state are using their legal power to politically kneecap Trump. If we don’t stop them now, they will keep doing it.
Rep. Fred Keller, R-Pa., told The Daily Signal that he thinks Garland needs to brief members of Congress on what happened and how the raid was authorized.
“I think the first thing that should happen is, this Friday, Merrick Garland ought to give us a briefing. Why don’t they put us in a room and let us ask him questions?” he said, adding:
I think there’s a reason the American people are losing faith in institutions like the FBI and the Department of Justice … . [W]e deserve answers to find out why they took the unprecedented action to go in and raid the former president’s house.
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal