Iowa Republicans demand answers on FBI search of Trump’s Florida estate

Iowa Republicans demanded answers from U.S. Department of Justice officials following the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s home for documents as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida estate.

Some quickly denounced the Monday search by the FBI of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, where agents executed a search warrant for classified documents, the Associated Press reported.

“The Department of Justice must immediately explain their justification for this unprecedented raid,” Marion Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson tweeted Tuesday.

The Department of Justice must immediately explain their justification for this unprecedented raid.

A Republican majority will provide rigorous oversight of the Biden Administration and ensure they are serving the American people, not targeting them.

— Ashley Hinson (@RepAshleyHinson) August 9, 2022

“A Republican majority will provide rigorous oversight of the Biden Administration and ensure they are serving the American people, not targeting them,” Hinson tweeted.

The Miami Herald reported agents obtained a search warrant from a federal magistrate judge in West Palm Beach to get dozens of boxes allegedly containing classified material that Trump had taken to his home when he left the White House. A source close to the investigation told the Miami Herald the FBI was able to show probable cause because Trump and his lawyers had already turned over classified documents sought by the National Archives and Records Administration, and agents suspected that Trump was unlawfully holding other classified documents from his presidency in his private club and residence at Mar-a-Lago.

Some of the materials Trump took included letters and notes from foreign leaders, such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, the Washington Post reported.

Trump and his allies, including Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, sought to cast the search as a weaponization of the criminal justice system and a Democratic-driven effort to keep the former president from winning another term in 2024 — though the White House said it had no prior knowledge and current FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump, the AP reported.

Fellow Iowa House GOP members Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa and Randy Feenstra of Hull also denounced the FBI’s search.

Feenstra called the FBI’s search “an unprecedented escalation of the use of law enforcement against a former President.”

Yesterday’s raid was an unprecedented escalation of the use of law enforcement against a former President. Our Justice system should be consistent, fair, and transparent. The FBI must immediately provide a full accounting of facts. The American people deserve answers.

— Rep. Randy Feenstra (@RepFeenstra) August 9, 2022

“Our Justice system should be consistent, fair, and transparent,” Feenstra tweeted. “The FBI must immediately provide a full accounting of facts. The American people deserve answers.”

Miller-Meeks tweeted: “It’s time for Washington to focus on the crimes happening at our border and cities, energy independence and not wasting taxpayer dollars investigating political rivals.”

It’s time for Washington to focus on the crimes happening at our border and cities, energy independence and not wasting taxpayer dollars investigating political rivals.

— Dr. Miller-Meeks (@millermeeks) August 9, 2022

The Republican-led Senate in 2020 acquitted Trump on two articles of impeachment by the Democratic-led U.S. House over accusations he tried to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, then a presidential candidate and chief political rival to Trump.

A separate grand jury is investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that Biden won, which led to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

A totally unprecedented action by the DOJ and FBI — the same agencies who labeled parents domestic terrorists and sat on the sidelines while Justices were threatened and churches were vandalized.

The American people deserve answers, now.

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) August 9, 2022

Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst called the FBI’s search “absolutely unprecedented” and called on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice to promptly explain and provide a full accounting of the search, including releasing the FBI search warrant used at Mar-a-Lago.

“So what we don’t want to see is the politicizing of a federal agency like the FBI or the Department of Justice,” Ernst said in response to a reporter’s questions following a tour Wednesday of Hotel Millwright in Amana. “They need to tell us exactly what they were doing. That should be available in the search warrant. We should have access to all of this information, and we should know exactly what they were looking for and why they did what they did.”

Fellow Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed “serious concern” that the FBI’s “credibility is on the line” and that the search of a former U.S. president’s private residence “without explanation will only further erode confidence in the FBI and the Justice Department.”

Grassley has accused the FBI and Justice Department of political bias in investigations ranging from election and campaign finance probes and Hunter Biden’s financial and foreign business activities, citing claims from whistleblowers alleging a widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about President Biden's son.

“The Justice Department as a whole bears responsibility in upholding the public trust, and in a matter so consequential to our democratic process, Attorney General Garland also owes the American people full transparency,” Grassley said in a statement.

While no former president has ever been the subject of an FBI search of their personal residence, former White House aides say Trump repeatedly and flagrantly mishandled classified documents.

Multiple federal laws govern the handling of classified records and sensitive government documents, including statutes that make it a crime to remove such material and retain it at an unauthorized location.

“There is no ‘revenge’ happening here,” Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, tweeted. “There is no ‘deep state’ acting here. There is a former president who appears to have broken multiple laws. There is an AG who is enforcing the law. That is what is happening. Don't let them gaslight you.”

There is no "revenge" happening here. There is no "deep state" acting here. There is a former president who appears to have broken multiple laws. There is an AG who is enforcing the law. That is what is happening. Don't let them gaslight you.

— Zach Wahls (@ZachWahls) August 9, 2022

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