After the FBI investigated former President Donald Trump's personal property at Mar-a-Lago, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) declared Tuesday that Attorney General Merrick Garland "must resign or be impeached."
On Monday, Trump issued a statement alleging that federal officials invaded his private property despite his cooperation with authorities for months in returning papers he allegedly stole from the White House after his tenure ended.
GOP Demands Transparency on FBI's Mar-a-Lago Raid
In January, the National Archives and Data Administration found 15 boxes of records, some of which were labeled secret national security material.
An inventory of unclassified items in the seized containers, according to a source, is 100 pages long. A cocktail napkin, a birthday dinner menu, a phone list, charts, slide decks, letters, notes, maps, talking points, calendars, and other papers were retrieved.
As per reports, the search warrant was issued in Palm Beach County and was signed by Bruce E. Reinhart, magistrate judge for the Southern District of Florida. Republican senators slammed the unusual raid on the residence of a former president. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has promised to conduct rapid monitoring of the Department of Justice if Republicans win the House majority in the 2022 midterm elections, Yahoo News reported.
Meanwhile, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland justify the FBI's raid on former President Donald Trump's home on 'Jesse Watters Primetime' on Tuesday. Graham, R-S.C., also demanded more information on the impetus for the raid during comments at an event with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.
Graham also stated on Tuesday that the fact that the raid occurred just three months before a key midterm election is suspicious and that if anything similar happened to a Democrat, there would be widespread uproar. Graham said he doesn't have an issue with the FBI in general but believes it has a history of bad behavior against Trump, notably in its investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which has been proven false.
Some members of the Senate Republican leadership have made sentiments similar to Graham's, seeking transparency regarding the search. When questioned about the raid on Tuesday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to comment.
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Democrats Slam Republicans' Reactions
Meanwhile, high-ranking congressional Democrats have largely refrained from making specific remarks in the immediate aftermath of the raid. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., did, however, stress that law enforcement must meet a high evidentiary standard to get a search warrant.
During an interview on MSNBC Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, blasted the GOP reaction to the Trump raid, claiming many Republicans had "little respect for the rule of law." However, Schumer did not specifically address the FBI search. A spokeswoman for Schumer said the majority leader has no more comment on the raid at this time, as per Fox News.
Former Vice President Mike Pence said the FBI raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property undermines Americans' trust in the judicial system and demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland explain fully why the search of the ex-residence president's was necessary.
The Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, evaluated the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign, called Crossfire Hurricane, and discovered that the agency made several mistakes but did not identify any political prejudice, according to New York Post.
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