DES MOINES, Iowa – The FBI on Monday executed a search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla. The search warrant was connected to the handling of classified documents and the Presidential Records Act.
Federal authorities believe not all documents and materials that are property of the government were returned by the former president and members of his team. As a result, the National Archives referred the case to the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year.
“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate. It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024,” Trump said in a released statement on Monday.
The White House insisted that President Joe Biden did not have advance knowledge of the raid.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, The U.S. Department of Justice, or the FBI have not provided a public statement on the search that Iowa Republicans have called unprecedented while demanding answers.
“Less than a week ago, I expressed serious concern that what little remains of the FBI’s credibility is on the line following its inconsistent handling of politically sensitive investigations, failure to hold its own employees accountable for misconduct and consistent disregard for congressional oversight. Last night’s raid on the home of a former U.S. president without explanation will only further erode confidence in the FBI and the Justice Department,” U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a released statement on Tuesday.
“I reiterated these concerns to Director Wray today. If the FBI isn’t extraordinarily transparent about its justification for yesterday’s actions and committed to rooting out political bias that has infected their most sensitive investigations, they will have sealed their own fate. The FBI’s mission and the many patriotic agents who work hard to carry it out will be forever overshadowed by the distrust the bureau has sown,” he added.
“The Justice Department as a whole bears responsibility in upholding the public trust, and in a matter so consequential to our democratic process, Attorney General Garland also owes the American people full transparency,” Grassley concluded.
“A totally unprecedented action by the DOJ and FBI the same agencies who labeled parents domestic terrorists and sat on the sidelines while Justices were threatened and churches were vandalized,” U.S. Senator Joni Ernst tweeted on Tuesday. “The American people deserve answers, now.”
U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who is running for re-election in the new Iowa 1st Congressional District, said taxpayer resources are better used elsewhere.
“It’s time for Washington to focus on the crimes happening at our border and cities, energy independence and not wasting taxpayer dollars investigating political rivals,” she tweeted.
U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, who is running for re-election in the newly drawn Iowa 2nd Congressional District, promised “rigorous oversight” if Republicans win the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in November.
“The Department of Justice must immediately explain their justification for this unprecedented raid,” she tweeted. “A Republican majority will provide rigorous oversight of the Biden Administration and ensure they are serving the American people, not targeting them.”
U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, running in Iowa’s newly drawn 4th Congressional District, called the raid an “unprecedented escalation.”
“Yesterday’s raid was an unprecedented escalation of the use of law enforcement against a former President. Our Justice system should be consistent, fair, and transparent. The FBI must immediately provide a full accounting of facts. The American people deserve answers,” he said.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds also weighed in on Twitter.
“The Biden Administration is taking our nation down a dangerous path, unleashing the DOJ and FBI on parents, taxpayers, gun owners, and now on President Trump himself,” she said.
“The federal government is more focused on punishing working Americans than solving the border crisis, record inflation, and declining national security. It’s wrong and the American people deserve better!” Reynolds added.
