Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks through the Young America’s Foundation Student Conference on July 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. Pence outlined a conservative agenda and took questions on Taiwan and his relationship with former President Donald Trump.
Nathan Howard | Getty Images
Former Vice President Mike Pence expressed “deep concern” Tuesday concerning the FBI’s search of ex-President Donald Trump’s resort home Mar-a-Lago, calling it “unprecedented” and pressing the Department of Justice to elucidate the shocking move.
“No former President of the US has ever been subject to a raid of their personal residence in American history,” Pence said in a trio of tweets.
Pence’s statement got here a day after Trump announced that a “large group of FBI agents” conducted an unannounced “raid” on the Palm Beach, Florida, resort, which has been Trump’s official residence since he left the White House.
“They even broke into my protected!” said Trump, who was in Recent York City on Monday when the FBI searched his home.
The search was related to a Justice Department probe into whether laws were broken when 15 boxes of White House records — which included some documents marked as classified — ended up at Mar-a-Lago as an alternative of the National Archives, NBC News and other outlets reported.
To acquire a search warrant, federal investigators must show a judge that there may be probable cause to imagine a criminal offense has been committed and that there could also be evidence related to that crime in the situation they’re targeting.
There are multiple energetic investigations on the state and federal level related to Trump, his business and his family. Along with the probe of records at Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department is reportedly investigating events resulting in the Capitol riot.
A federal grand jury has also been impaneled in Georgia as a part of a probe into efforts by Trump and others to meddle in that state’s election in 2020. The Recent York attorney general’s office can also be conducting a civil probe into the Trump Organization’s business practices.
Pence’s tweets echoed complaints from other Republicans who claim the Justice Department and Biden-appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland are unjustly targeting Trump and his political allies.
“After years where FBI agents were found to be acting on political motivation during our administration, the looks of continued partisanship by the Justice Department should be addressed,” Pence wrote.
“Yesterday’s motion undermines public confidence in our system of justice and Attorney General Garland must give a full accounting to the American people as to why this motion was taken and he must achieve this immediately,” Pence tweeted.
The statement marked a rare public reference to Trump by his former vp. Trump and his supporters have castigated Pence since he resisted the ex-president’s calls for him to challenge President Joe Biden’s victory within the 2020 election.
Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, rejected a dubious legal theory pushed by Trump and his allies. They claimed the vp had the facility to say no key states’ Electoral College results.
Pence’s refusal to throw out lawfully certified electoral votes contributed to fury amongst hundreds of Trump supporters, who descended on the Capitol and stormed the constructing. The riot forced lawmakers, and Pence, into hiding, and delayed Congress from confirming Biden’s win over Trump.
The House select committee investigating the riot said Pence’s life was in peril on Jan. 6.
A police automotive is seen outside former US President Donald Trump’s residence in Mar-A-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida on August 8, 2022.
Giorgio Viera | AFP | Getty Images
Pence, who appears to be considering a future presidential run, said in February that he thinks “Trump is flawed” to imagine the vp could unilaterally reject the presidential election results.
“And albeit, there isn’t a idea more un-American than the notion that anyone person could select the American president,” the previous vp said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, one other Republican whose relationship with Trump has soured, was noticeably silent on the raid as of Tuesday afternoon.
But lots of Trump’s GOP allies showed outrage toward the Justice Department after Monday’s search and suggested politics motivated the raid.
“I’ve seen enough,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in a press release Monday night. The DOJ “has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization,” he said.
McCarthy vowed to research the department and “leave no stone unturned” after the November midterm elections, when Republicans could win control of the House.
“Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar,” his statement added.
Other vocal Trump supporters in Congress echoed McCarthy.
“If the FBI can raid a U.S. President, imagine what they’ll do to you,” tweeted House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of Recent York.
“Launching such an investigation of a former president this near an election is beyond problematic,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Each Republican U.S. senators from Florida, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, accused the Biden administration of persecuting political enemies.
