“This is their message”: Trump and GOP immediately rush to fundraise off FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago
Republicans wasted no time trying to turn their performative outrage into solicitations for donor cash
By Igor Derysh
Deputy Politics EditorPublished August 9, 2022 11:36AM (EDT)
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| Donald Trump | Mar-A-Lago (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images) |
Readers can follow that link for detail. Republicans should not lose sight of the fact that presidential records law was tightened because of misconduct of and distrust toward an earlier Republican president (one who asserted, "I am not a crook").
When you say "rhetoric," show what you mean. Beyond what is in the above-linked item, if there is more. There is -
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“Defund the FBI!”: Republicans’ pro-police rhetoric goes out the window after feds raid Trump
One Republican Trump ally called for FBI agents to "be arrested upon sight"
By Igor Derysh
Deputy Politics EditorPublished August 9, 2022 9:32AM (EDT)
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)
Other Trump allies, many of whom echoed and cheered his "lock her up" calls aimed at Hillary Clinton while touting their support for law enforcement, went even further, calling to destroy the FBI entirely.
"DEFUND THE FBI!" Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., declared on Twitter.
"This is the rogue behavior of communist countries, NOT the United States of America!!!" Greene wrote. "These are the type of things that happen in countries during civil war. The political persecution MUST STOP!!!"
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., another close Trump ally, called for the "complete dismantling and elimination of the democrat brown shirts known as the FBI."
"We must destroy the FBI," he wrote in a subsequent tweet.
Some lesser-known Trump supporters went even further than that. Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini called for his state to "sever all ties with DOJ immediately."
"Any FBI agent conducting law enforcement functions outside the purview of our State should be arrested upon sight," he tweeted.
Former Trump aide Russ Vought told Fox News' Laura Ingraham that Republicans in Congress should "defund the FBI" and "dismantle the FBI into a thousand bits."
The one guy who died before this event would, if still alive, have said, "Downsize until it is so small I can strangle it in a bathtub."
Our Republican friends, they overact. They have the script but they ham it up.
If they could restrain themselves, surely they would.
But they are to the last one quoted full of ----- hubris and chutzpah.
_________UPDATE________
Former federal prosecutor Michael Stern suggested that TrumpWorld is trotting out the [FBI planted stuff] claim because the FBI may have found damaging evidence at his home.
"I have written hundreds of search warrants. Lawyers and people whose homes are being searched are routinely not present during the search," he wrote. "That Trump is now talking about 'planted' evidence means he knows there is something damning they found."
Yet, Donald The Great anyway asserts, no problem, everything of concern was declassified by some form of immaculate introspection. Something like that. He is a bit vague on detail, but something he might have said, to someone, while in office - he is certain of that. Certain enough to say so, and the man does not lie.
__________FURTHER UPDATE_________
While Trump and his lawyers and crew have cause to be reaching with the "FBI might have planted stuff" business, it seems other REPUBLICANS need not go there.
Moreover, going there would blow back at them, in that there are some far less speculative and more credible and serious chain of custody considerations with their treasured Hunter Biden laptop crapfest intentions. They should THINK.
Further, the bluff about "they did not let us watch" is irrelevant to the "planted stuff" BSing because the FBI had custody of what they seized and in vans after leaving Mar a Lago there was an easier capability to "plant" stuff. So, excluding interference with search effort, standard practice as everybody admits, does not enhance any "planted stuff" credibility, while, come on, get real. Trump, if framed, was framed by nobody but himself and his ego and disrespect for constraints. He did himself in.