Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the “apparent political weaponization of” Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice (DOJ) after the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Monday.
“Executing a warrant against ex-POTUS is dangerous. The apparent political weaponization of DOJ/FBI is shameful,” he wrote in a tweet. “AG must explain why 250 yrs of practice was upended w/ this raid.”
Pompeo also noted that twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was not subject to an FBI raid after the findings of the Benghazi Committee.
“I served on Benghazi Com where we proved Hilliary possessed classified info. We didn’t raid her home.”
Hillary Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during a House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015. (Pete Marovich/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump announced the raid Monday night in a press release and also honed in on the handling of the Clinton investigation:
Hillary Clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails AFTER they were subpoenaed by Congress. Absolutely nothing has happened to hold her accountable. She even took antique furniture, and other items from the White House. I stood up to America’s bureaucratic corruption, I restored power to the people, and truly delivered for our Country, like we have never seen before. The establishment hated it. Now, as they watch my endorsed candidates win big victories, and see my dominance in all polls, they are trying to stop me, and the Republican Party, once more.
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that the raid “appeared to be focused on material that Mr. Trump had brought with him to Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence, when he left the White House,” adding:
Those boxes contained many pages of classified documents, according to a person familiar with their contents.
Mr. Trump delayed returning 15 boxes of material requested by officials with the National Archives for many months, only doing so when there became a threat of action to retrieve them. The case was referred to the Justice Department by the archives early this year.
In his release, Trump stated that he had been “working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies,” emphasizing that “this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.”
He continued:
It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections. Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries. Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before. They even broke into my safe!
While appearing on Fox News Channel’s Hannity, the 45th president’s son, Eric Trump, stated that the safe was empty.