The FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence. NBC 6’s Cristian Benavides and Steve Litz report
In the wake of the FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Palm Beach residence, politicians from both political parties are speaking out.
The search intensifies the months-long probe into how classified documents ended up in more than a dozen boxes located at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. Trump, disclosing the search in a lengthy statement, asserted that agents had opened up a safe at his home and described their work as an “unannounced raid” that he likened to “prosecutorial misconduct.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who some see as the Republican Party frontrunner if Trump choses not to run for president again in 2024, called the raid "another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies."
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Both candidates running for governor in this year's Democratic Party primary, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, criticized DeSantis' comments.
"Ron DeSantis attacks law enforcement for legally raiding Mar-a-Lago while he’s yet to say anything about the heinous Nazis in our state who've been rallying in support of him," Crist tweeted. Fried said DeSantis was "defending Donald Trump instead of the rule of law."
Both of Florida's U.S. Senators, Republicans Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, came out against the raid on social media.
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"This is 3rd World country stuff. We need answers NOW. The FBI must explain what they were doing today & why," Scott said.
State Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat from Broward County, tweeted that "no one, not even a former President is above the law."
The FBI notified the Secret Service hours before the search about the bureau’s plans to execute the warrant, a Secret Service official told NBC News. The Secret Service facilitated access to the property, the official said, but did not participate in any aspect of the search.
Justice Department spokesperson Dena Iverson declined to comment on the search, including about whether Attorney General Merrick Garland had personally authorized it.
