The leaders of the Justice Department and the FBI will probably be called before Congress one day very soon to give testimony about the historic choice to raid a former president's residence.
But as of right now, we don't know much about what was in the search warrant that was used to enter Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on Monday. We do know that the raid involved taking secret papers out of the White House, and that, in Trump's account, officers searched his safe.
However, we also immediately saw that many powerful individuals aren't particularly interested in any of that, instinctively yelling "witch hunt" and blaming President Biden for the raid in a manner that augurs terribly for whatever steps are taken in this process moving forward. Trump has rallied his army of fans to slam any judicial investigation against him as a deep-state conspiracy.
It's also an army that, it's worth recalling, was previously eager to push the concept that their favorite candidate should "lock" up such an opponent. This army was formerly highly preoccupied with the need for document security.
Trump quickly compared the raid to what takes place in developing nations. Many others, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, enthusiastically reiterated that talking point (Ohio). Does the FBI not have more important tasks to complete than torment the former President? a tweet was posted by the House Judiciary GOP.
This is what happens in third world countries.
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) August 8, 2022
Not the United States.
Doesn’t the FBI have better things to do than harass the former PRESIDENT? https://t.co/XoP6hz5hDR
Another talking point that was supported by the House Judiciary GOP and Fox News pundits was that no one is safe if they can attack Trump in this way.
Although there is no proof the president had any part, many pointed the finger to Biden. Fox News's Brian Kilmeade even stated that the order for the raid "must have originated from @POTUS and/or someone in White House."
Soon after, replies from the top echelons of the GOP appeared, and they were as passionate.
Garland had best be ready to face questions, said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), on Monday night. McCarthy nonetheless stated: "The Department of Justice has reached an untenable degree of weaponized partisanship" even in the absence of any responses to those queries. Democrats "continually weaponize the bureaucracy against Republicans," according to a statement made by the Republican National Committee. This raid is despicable.
Attorney General Garland: preserve your documents and clear your calendar. pic.twitter.com/dStAjnwbAT
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) August 9, 2022
That's a lot of definite judgments based on very little information. But it is the result of Trump's years-long claims of persecution.
First, there was the Russia probe, which, according to a report by the then-GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee, revealed to have plenty of evidence of probable obstruction of justice and even collusion with Russians but is now slang for a traditional "witch hunt" on the right. There was the impeachment against Trump in Ukraine, which resulted in his acquittal but contained a number of noteworthy information concerning his use of foreign policy to advance his reelection. Last but not least, there was January 6, which many prominent Republicans initially acknowledged as being very bad and even blamed Trump for, only to acquit him at his second impeachment trial on a technicality and quickly turn back to supporting Trump once it became clear that he was not making any progress politically.
The most crucial thing to keep in mind is that this probe is not entirely new: a major focus has long been on Trump's handling of official materials. The Washington Post first wrote about Trump's "relentless document trashing practices" in February. A few days later, the National Archives confirmed that it had taken 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago that should have been turned over, including those with the classifications "classified" and even "top secret." It then requested that the Justice Department look into the matter, which it has done without a doubt.
The next consideration is whether a search warrant is necessary in this case. The fact that the Justice Department would choose this course of action would appear to indicate that it sees something that may be more damning than just poor record-keeping and document retention. The department is aware that this choice will be closely examined; continuing down this road only for it to result in a minor finding and a warning is not worth the backlash it will receive from 40 to 45 percent of the population.
It's also important to remember that this region of the country used to be quite focused on monitoring possibly sensitive government papers. Her use of a personal email server during the 2016 presidential campaign was Hillary Clinton's greatest detraction. When we realized that official papers had found their way to Mar-a-Lago, many of the people who had previously voiced concerns about it became completely silent. (McCarthy, for example, had lambasted Clinton back in 2016 for what he termed her "basic lack of judgment and wanton disrespect for preserving and keeping a material secret.)
Then there is the issue of the Justice Department's alleged political targeting and the unfounded claims regarding Biden's alleged involvement. Trump urged fans to yell "lock her up" in reference to Clinton's emails during the 2016 campaign. He had no reluctance to use his presidential authority to look into political rivals, including Ukraine. Whatever your opinion of how the Clinton probe played out, there was an investigation that included a presidential candidate in the midst of a campaign and was extremely public. This inquiry might very well have influenced the outcome of the 2016 election.
On Monday evening, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a former leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee, responded in a little more restrained manner. He bemoaned how close the raid was to the midterm elections and brought up alleged overreach in other Trump investigations. He said that "no one is above the law" and that "time will tell about this most current inquiry" against Trump, but he also asserted that "no one is above the law."
If the past is any indication, suspicion of Trump investigations is warranted.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) August 9, 2022
Remember the Carter Page warrant fiasco? The endless accusations regarding Russia? The never-ending inquiry of personal and business matters?
That latter opinion appeared to be plausible. But by that point, his party had already moved on, feeling it wasn't important to wait for him to finish speaking to us.
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