Following a raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo requested that the Department of Justice explain itself.
On Monday, Trump revealed that the FBI was raiding the Palm Beach, Florida site, with Republicans charging that the DOJ was being weaponized. Now, Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo is demanding that the Justice Department give evidence that this is not the case.
Republicans Criticize FBI's Mar-a-Lago Raid
Cuomo, who has clashed and collaborated with Trump during his presidency, appeared to be saying this not to defend Trump, but to ensure that his fellow Democrats do not lose credibility when they examine the former president's participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol demonstrations.
DOJ must immediately explain the reason for its raid & it must be more than a search for inconsequential archives or it will be viewed as a political tactic and undermine any future credible investigation & legitimacy of January 6 investigations.
— Andrew Cuomo (@andrewcuomo) August 9, 2022
Trump stated that the raid was necessary or proper, and that he had been working with government agents. A number of other Republicans have already criticized the raid, or at least the manner in which it was carried out, according to Fox News.
Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated on Tuesday that "no one is above the law," implying that the FBI raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate would have been lawful. Pelosi, who frequently clashed with Trump while she was a speaker and he was president, claimed she did not know about the Monday raid.
The raid was said to be part of an inquiry into whether the former president departed the White House with any secret materials. On Monday, FBI investigators raided Trump's Florida mansion and spent hours combing through his private office.
The raid was believed to be court-authorized, and the FBI provided early notification to US Secret Service personnel at Mar-a-Lago, who cooperated by allowing them access to the property. Biden's White House was unaware of the situation. Senior White House officials learned about it through Twitter.
According to the New York Times, the probe focuses on documents Trump carried with him to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, especially if he has classified information in his private possession, which would violate federal law.
Trump brought 15 boxes of paperwork with him when he departed Washington DC in January 2021. The boxes were returned to the National Archives a year later in January 2022, but investigators were seeking further presidential records or sensitive materials at Trump's South Florida resort on Monday.
Mike Pence Defends Trump Over FBI's Mar-a-Lago Raid
Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized the FBI and DOJ after agents searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. Pence's remark came only hours after Mr. Trump announced the search at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion on Monday night, saying: "Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is presently under siege, raided, and occupied by a big number of FBI agents."
As reported by The Independent, Trump was not present at the time of the raid, instead releasing a furious statement from Trump Tower in New York City. Many details of the raid remain unknown, including if Trump was informed in advance. He described the conduct as unannounced in his remark.
The Justice Department has not commented on the FBI's conduct, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Several media sites claimed that the raid was in response to an investigation into Trump's removal of sensitive materials from the White House, rather than the DOJ's ongoing inquiry into Trump's activities on January 6.
When the FBI's probes have gone close to major personalities in their respective parties, both Democrats and Republicans have slammed the agency. Democrats were outraged by former FBI Director James Comey's comments regarding the agency's decision not to prosecute Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for mishandling sensitive information by using a private email server, despite publicly declaring she was exceedingly irresponsible.
Comey held a news conference in July 2016, only four months before the presidential election, to make the remarks. Comey also notified members of Congress that the Clinton email probe had been reopened approximately two weeks before the 2016 election because new emails had been discovered on a laptop taken from Anthony Weiner, who was then married to key Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Despite Comey's assurances to Congress that no new evidence had been discovered before election day, the reopening of the email probe over the last stretch of the campaign certainly helped Trump narrowly win the 2016 election, Daily Mail reported.
Then, two months into Trump's presidency, Comey acknowledged that the FBI was looking into whether members of Trump's 2016 campaign team collaborated with Russia, which meddled in the election.
Democrats were outraged once more that Comey kept the Trump-Russia investigation quiet in the run-up to the 2016 election while openly discussing the FBI's Clinton ties. Comey subsequently stated that he anticipated Clinton would win the election, which influenced how he handled the investigations.
Pence's partisanship complaints were most likely about the "FBI lovers" incident, which involved anti-Trump text messages sent between Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page, who were both working on special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and having an affair.
