Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, who is running for the role of majority whip if Republicans take back the House this fall, quickly tried to paint the search as political, while vowing the hearing of GOP-led House of Representatives next year.
“Hunter Biden Skates Free as DOJ Executes Political Plot to Ruin Lives of Political Opponents.” Banks posted on Twitter. “This is un-American and the @Jim_Jordan-led Judiciary Committee hearings in January can’t come soon enough!”
Both Banks and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who will become chairman of the judiciary panel in the House GOP majority, are close allies of McCarthy and longtime Trump boosters dating back to the first impeachment of the former president. A Twitter account linked to Jordan also hit similar pro-Trump points, including the anti-FBI sentiment that has flared among Trump supporters since the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Comparing the Mar-a-Lago research to the harassment of everyday citizens that is a fixture of Third World countries, the GOP account of the House Judiciary Committee also echoed Trump’s statement Monday night, asserting: “The FBI knowingly misled Americans about Russian ‘collusion’ for years. You can’t trust them.”
The law enforcement activity at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the investigation, was linked to allegations that presidential records — including some with potentially classified information — were removed by Trump allies from the White House after the former president left office. . But the nature of the documents the government seized as part of the raid remains unclear.
While far less aligned with McCarthy and the party leadership, members of the pro-Trump group House Freedom were among the first to push their party to conduct oversight of the FBI search. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), the former head of the group, called for an investigation that would examine “the possibility of our federal law enforcement agencies abusing their authorities for political purposes.”
Biggs too asked to compare the search for Mar-a-Lago until the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of his political enemies: “The only thing missing from the FBI’s unprecedented raid on President Trump’s home are Muammar’s sunglasses and cap Gaddafi for Joe Biden,” the Arizonan tweeted.
House Republicans are likely to face further questions about the attack at Mar-a-Lago and its effect on their plans for a possible House takeover when they return to Washington for a vote on scheduled for Friday on the climate of the Democratic Party. tax and health care bills.
While some top Republicans have privately resisted calls from conservatives for an investigation, noting they need to see evidence the search was a stunt and not an act based on the books, McCarthy’s tweet Monday night raises the political stakes considerably. of the moment for the entire conference.
Even a prominent former member of the Freedom Caucus — turned potential Trump 2024 presidential rival — also weighed in.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attacked the Mar-a-Lago search on Twitter with similar Third World references, calling it “another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against political opponents of the regime” and adding a dig at Democrats for trying to increase IRS enforcement to help pay for their domestic agenda.
“Banana republic,” he tweeted.
