OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has responded to the raid on former President Donald Trump’s house.
“All I know about that is what is in the public domain. I was surprised that it flashed on my phone last evening, so I don’t really have too much to say except that to have a visit like that, you need a warrant. To have a warrant, you need justification. And that says that no one is above the law, not even a president or a former president of the United States,” the Speaker said on MSNBC on Tuesday.
“But all of this should be made known to us over time. But I have no knowledge of it. I do know that there has been chatter. More than chatter about the presidential documents and how they must be preserved for history. And let’s see what the justification was for the raid. I just don’t know,” she said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is talking live with @SavannahGuthrie for her first interview since returning to Washington.
She’s speaking on the breaking news of the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. pic.twitter.com/FyCR8T7s1I
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 9, 2022
The Speaker chose her words carefully as there is still not message from the Department of Justice and the warrant has not been shown to the media.
Republicans did not have the same response.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has come to the defense of former President Donald Trump after the FBI raided his Florida Mar-a-Lago home.
“The raid of MAL [Mar-a-Lago] 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,” he said on Twitter. “Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? 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. Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic.
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) August 9, 2022
And he was not the only Republican to respond with furiousness after the raid.
“The @FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago is incredibly concerning, especially given the Biden admin’s history of going after parents & other political opponents. This is 3rd World country stuff. We need answers NOW. The FBI must explain what they were doing today & why,” Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott said.
The @FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago is incredibly concerning, especially given the Biden admin’s history of going after parents & other political opponents. This is 3rd World country stuff.
We need answers NOW. The FBI must explain what they were doing today & why.
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) August 9, 2022
“The FBI isn’t doing anything about the groups vandalizing Catholic Churches, firebombing Pro-Life groups or threatening Supreme Court justices But they find time to raid Mar A Lago,” Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said.
The FBI isn’t doing anything about the groups vandalizing Catholic Churches, firebombing Pro-Life groups or threatening Supreme Court justices
But they find time to raid Mar A Lago
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 9, 2022
“Biden is playing with fire by using a document dispute to get the @TheJusticeDept to persecute a likely future election opponent Because one day what goes around is going to come around And then we become Nicaragua under Ortega,” he said.
Biden is playing with fire by using a document dispute to get the @TheJusticeDept to persecute a likely future election opponent
Because one day what goes around is going to come around
And then we become Nicaragua under Ortega pic.twitter.com/LwODnsYtcr
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 9, 2022
“The @FBI raid on President Trump was approved by Director Wray, who also claimed that the illegal FISA warrants used to spy on Trump were constitutional. Today’s raid is outrageous and unjust, but predictable,” Sen. Rand Paul said.
The @FBI raid on President Trump was approved by Director Wray, who also claimed that the illegal FISA warrants used to spy on Trump were constitutional.
Today’s raid is outrageous and unjust, but predictable.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 9, 2022
“Executing a warrant against ex-POTUS is dangerous. The apparent political weaponization of DOJ/FBI is shameful. AG must explain why 250 yrs of practice was upended w/ this raid. I served on Benghazi Com where we proved Hilliary possessed classified info. We didn’t raid her home,” Mike Pompeo said.
Executing a warrant against ex-POTUS is dangerous. The apparent political weaponization of DOJ/FBI is shameful. AG must explain why 250 yrs of practice was upended w/ this raid. I served on Benghazi Com where we proved Hilliary possessed classified info. We didn’t raid her home
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) August 9, 2022
“The FBI raid on Trump’s home tells us one thing. Failure is not an option. We must destroy the FBI. We must save America. I stand with Donald J. Trump,” Rep. Paul Gosar said.
The FBI raid on Trump's home tells us one thing.
Failure is not an option.
We must destroy the FBI.
We must save America.
I stand with Donald J. Trump.
— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) August 9, 2022
“I’ve seen enough. The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization,” House Minority Leader and California Rep. Kevin McCarthy said. “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,” he said.
Attorney General Garland: preserve your documents and clear your calendar. pic.twitter.com/dStAjnwbAT
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) August 9, 2022
Even Democrat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressed his concerns about the raid.
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
“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,” he said.