Republican leaders condemn FBI raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago: 'Weaponization of federal agencies'

Republican leaders condemned the FBI's raid of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on Monday evening.

"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," said Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential candidate. "Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic."

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy warned Attorney General Merrick Garland about a potential GOP takeover of Congress.

"I’ve seen enough. The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization," he wrote on Truth Social. "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."

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the raid shows that the Democrats are abusing their power.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely," McDaniel said in a statement. "Countless times we have examples of Democrats flouting the law and abusing power with no recourse. Democrats continually weaponize the bureaucracy against Republicans. This raid is outrageous. This abuse of power must stop and the only way to do that is to elect Republicans in November."

David Axelrod, former White House adviser in the Obama administration, said on social media that Garland "would not have authorized this raid, and no federal judge would have signed off on it, if there weren't significant evidence to warrant it."

Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the House Progressive Caucus, argued that the raid is a step toward accountability.

"That's what happens when you break the law, try to steal an election, and incite a deadly insurrection," she wrote on Twitter. "Donald Trump should be in jail. I'm glad to see the FBI taking steps towards accountability."

The advocacy organization Tea Party Patriots called for the impeachment of President Biden over the raid.

"Joe Biden must be impeached," Tea Party Patriots Action Honorary Chairman Jenny Beth Martin said in a statement. "The raid on President Trump's home should have never happened. It is beyond wrong. It is obviously part of the ongoing witch hunt that began before President Trump ever took office, and which continues to this day.

"President Obama's IRS unlawfully targeted citizen groups that dared to oppose Obama policies. Now President Biden's FBI and DOJ have continued the tradition of politicizing federal agencies and have upped the ante by attacking a former president. We are supposed to be a constitutional republic not a banana republic. This madness must be stopped." 

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio questioned how the FBI found time for the raid.

"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," he said.

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said the Department of Justice needs to be able to produce a "slam dunk criminal case" to justify the raid.

"All I can say is the FBI better have the goods," he said. "This better be a slam dunk criminal case, otherwise the Biden Administration and DOJ have crossed a line of no return. If they got the goods, announce it. Otherwise this search on a former President's home is a disgrace."

Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza said the GOP agenda should include abolishing and rebuilding the FBI.

"It should now be a central plank of the Republican platform in both 2022 and 2024 that we will abolish the FBI, clean out the agency from top to bottom, and rebuild it from the ground up," he said.