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The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee has demanded an ‘immediate briefing’ from FBI director Christopher Wary on Monday’s Mar-a-Lago raid.
Rep. Michael Turner sent a letter obtained by DailyMail.com to the bureau and asked for the justification used to search Donald Trump’s Florida estate.
Turner said he is ‘unaware of any actual or alleged national security threat’ posed by any documents in Trump’s possession.
‘In the history of our country, this action is unprecedented,’ the Ohio Republican wrote.
‘Congress deserves immediate answers from you as to the actions you ordered,’ he added. ‘I hereby request an immediate briefing by you to Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence concerning any national security threats used to justify your decision’.
Several GOP leaders slammed the DOJ for the raid, and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy vowed revenge on the agency.
McCarthy called out US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Twitter, telling him ‘preserve your documents and clear your calendar.’
‘I’ve seen enough,’ he wrote. ‘The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.
When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned. Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar.’
The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee has demanded an ‘immediate briefing’ from FBI director Christopher Wary on Monday’s Mar-a-Lago raid
‘Congress deserves immediate answers from you as to the actions you ordered,’ he added. ‘I hereby request an immediate briefing by you to Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence concerning any national security threats used to justify your decision’
Republicans are vowing to get revenge on the FBI if they take back Congress in November after the agency raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday night
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy called out US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Twitter, telling him ‘preserve your documents and clear your calendar’
The raid on Monday night comes as Trump is considering another bid for the presidency and his actions after the 2020 election, where he tried to invalidate Joe Biden’s victory, are under investigation by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Trump’s son Eric Trump appeared on Hannity later Monday night where he revealed he was the one who alerted his father to the raid and said his father’s office was ransacked but that agents found ‘nothing in the safe.’
‘I was the guy who got the call this morning and I called my father and let him know it happened, and I was involved all day,’ he told Fox News host Sean Hannity. ‘Welcome to politics in the 2020s.’
‘To have 30 FBI agents — actually more than that — descend on Mar-a-Lago, give absolutely, you know, no notice, go through the gates, start ransacking an office, ransacking a closet — you know, they broke into a safe. He didn’t even have anything in the safe. I mean, give me a break.’
He charged President Joe Biden’s White House as the force behind the raid.
‘This didn’t come from a local FBI field office in Palm beach, Florida. You know this came from? This came from one place and one building, and that is the White House in Washington, D.C. They want to attack a guy who they view as his greatest threat, Biden’s greatest threat,’ Eric Trump said.
Biden’s White House had no heads up on the matter. Senior White House officials found out about it via Twitter, the New York Times reported.
Eric Trump, who was spotted at Trump Tower on Monday, said he was the one that got the call on the raid and told his father about it
Donald Trump was spotted leaving Trump Tower in New York on Monday night after announcing his Mar-a-Lago home had been raided by the FBI
Trump’s other son Donald Jr. son slammed the Biden administration and the DOJ for ripping the country apart.
‘Biden’s out of control DOJ is ripping this country apart with how they’re openly targeting their political enemies. This is what you see happen in 3rd World Banana Republics!!!
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis echoed the sentiment, comparing Biden’s administration to a regime and and America to a Banana Republic.
‘The raid of MAL is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves,’ DeSantis said. ‘Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic.’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the raid ‘rogue behavior of communist countries, NOT the United States of America!!!’
She tweeted: ‘The FBI is raiding President Trump’s home in Maralago! This is the rogue behavior of communist countries, NOT the United States of America!!! These are the type of things that happen in countries during civil war. The political persecution MUST STOP!!!’
Trump’s son Donald Jr. son slammed the Biden administration for ripping the country apart
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the raid ‘rogue behavior of communist countries, NOT the United States of America!!!’
Trump didn’t say specifically what the federal agents were looking for, but complained about the FBI agents breaking into his safe.
‘They even broke into my safe!’ the former president complained.
The investigation is focused on material that Trump brought with him to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House, the New York Times reported.
The 15 boxes of material reportedly contained classified information, which would be a violation of federal law.
It began Monday morning and took hours. A Florida reporter tweeted at 6:36 p.m. that the agents had ‘just left.’ Trump released his statement announcing the raid at 6:52 p.m.
‘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,’ Trump said in shocking statement released on Monday night.
‘After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.’
Many GOP leaders fumed about the raid on Twitter.
Marco Rubio wrote: ‘After todays raid on Mar A Lago what do you think the left plans to use those 87,000 new IRS agents for?’
Lauren Boebert tweeted that the DOJ ‘must be held accountable.’
‘Biden’s FBI just raided the house of the man most likely to be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2024…on top of all the other fake investigations into President Trump. Stop weaponizing federal agencies to distract from your own failed agenda!’
‘The GOP must set up a Select Committee to investigate the FBI’s politically-motivated raid on Mar-a-Lago and on ALL the fraudulent persecution of President Trump from our government. This cannot wait. We are turning into a banana republic at record speed,’ she added.
Nick Smith, an author endorsed by Trump called the raid an assault on the US Constitution.
Rep. Andy Biggs said: ‘Congress must look into the viability of our federal law enforcement agencies that abuse their authorities for political purposes. Rogue individuals within the FBI and DOJ are violating their oath of office by not upholding the law and they need to be held more accountable.’
Kimberly Guilfoyle tweeted: ‘The FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago is a continuation of the left’s endless & unlawful persecution of President Trump. The failed Biden Regime will do anything to try to distract the American people from the fact that their policies are DESTROYING our nation.’
Nick Smith, an author endorsed by Trump called the raid an assault on the US Constitution
Lauren Boebert tweeted that the DOJ ‘must be held accountable’
Rep. Andy Biggs said: ‘Rogue individuals within the FBI and DOJ are violating their oath of office by not upholding the law and they need to be held more accountable’
Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr., tweeted about the raid
Some made light of the raid, with one user referring to Trump’s youngest son Barron as he joked about the teen pointing the FBI agents to the safe as her plays his Xbox
Others mentioned Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton, questioning why they aren’t being raided by the FBI
Trump’s Florida home: Mar-a-Lago, where agents were reportedly investigating whether Trump took classified documents with him when he left the White House
Donald Trump was at his golf club in Bedminister, N.J., on Sunday, according to this photo of him posing with a newly engaged couple that was posted to social media
Trump, in his lengthy statement blasting the raid, called it ‘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, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections.
The Justice Department wouldn’t say whether Attorney General Merrick Garland had personally authorized the search but it’s highly unlikely a raid on a former president would take place without the AG giving it the stamp of approval.
The raid was said to be court authorized and the FBI gave US Secret Service agents at Mar-a-Lago advance notice and they cooperated letting them into the property, NBC News reported. The Secret Service agents but did not take part in investigation or search.
This meant the FBI did not have to break into the property or bust down any doors.
The raid was believed to be tied to a DoJ investigation into the boxes of records containing classified information that were taken to Mar-a-Lago.
In February, the National Archives and Records Administration asked DoJ to examine whether the former president violated federal law. There are multiple statutes governing classified information, including a law punishable by up to five years in prison that makes it a crime to remove such records and retain them at an unauthorized location.
Boxes were spotted just outside the West Wing in the days leading up to former President Donald Trump’s last day in office in January 2021
National Archives officials recovered 15 boxes of White House materials from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in mid-January.
Among the items Trump had to return were correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Trump has described as ‘beautiful letters’ and a handwritten letter that former President Barack Obama had left behind in the Oval Office for his successor.
Trump is involved in several other legal matters, including the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the January 6th insurrection.