Republicans and pundits roast Garland after speech on Trump raid

Conservatives attacked Attorney General Merrick Garland after he revealed Thursday that he personally approved the FBI's raid of former President Donald Trump's home and filed a motion to have the search warrant unsealed.

Shortly after the press conference, Trump defended himself on his platform, Truth Social.

"My attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully, and very good relationships had been established. The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it. They asked us to put an additional lock on a certain area - DONE! Everything was fine, better than that of most previous Presidents, and then, out of nowhere and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided, at 6:30 in the morning, by VERY large numbers of agents, and even 'safecrackers.' They got way ahead of themselves. Crazy!" he said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has clashed with the former president before, pointed out controversial prior FBI investigations as reasons why the public does not trust the justice system.

"The primary reason the Attorney General and FBI are being pushed to disclose why the search was necessary is because of the deep mistrust of the FBI and DOJ when it comes to all things Trump - such as the Crossfire Hurricane and Mueller investigations," Graham wrote, stating that he is looking for the "predicate for the search."

He added: "After Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller investigation, where FISA Court rebuked the FBI and DOJ for failing to disclose exculpatory material, there is no benefit of the doubt when it comes to investigating President Trump."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) pointed out how "Merrick Garland personally approved a search warrant to take down Joe Biden’s top political opponent" and called the raid "a politically-motivated witch hunt."

Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) tweeted, "For the Democrats, the FBI has become a tool to attack political opponents."

Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) expressed concern over how much is still unknown after Garland's press conference. 

"AG Garland spent four minutes reading an empty and inconsequential statement, and then refused to take questions. We STILL don’t know the reason for the raid, the nature and extent of probable cause, and why the DOJ felt it necessary to take such extreme and intrusive measures," he tweeted. 

Conservative commentators also questioned Garland's comments.

Political analyst John Cardillo claimed that sources told him that all federal agencies received messages to "start cataloging social media posts of known conservative influencers so they can be threat assessed."

He followed up: "This on the heels of Garland saying he won't allow the 'integrity' of DOJ and FBI to be questioned."

Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway said how things may have ended up differently if the Senate had confirmed AG Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, as then-President Barack Obama nominated him to do in 2016. 

"Kind of crazy to think that Merrick Garland may have posed less of a threat to the republic as a Supreme Court justice than as an incompetent, vindictive, corrupt AG," she wrote.

"I’m sorry, how many FBI assets were involved in the kidnapping of Governor Whitmer again? Did anyone believe a word that this eunuch just said?" Human Events senior editor Jack Posobiec posted.