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House Judiciary GOP slaps WH, DOJ, FBI with preservation notices after Trump raid, demand ‘complete cooperation’

August 16, 2022 | | Print Article

Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee are moving to investigate the Department of Justice and the FBI by issuing “preservation notices” in anticipation of the GOP taking control of the Senate and House in the midterms.

The notices are in connection to actions taken by the White House, DOJ, and FBI in the unprecedented raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

Letters signed by 18 Republicans on the committee were sent to White House chief of staff Ron Klain, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, suggesting that the search of Trump’s home was politically motivated.

“The FBI’s unprecedented raid of President Trump’s residence is a shocking escalation of the Biden Administration’s weaponization of law-enforcement resources against its political opponents,” the letters contended. The effort is being spearheaded by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is the ranking member of the committee.

“The American people deserve answers about the FBI’s unprecedented raid on former President Trump’s home,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in a statement after the notices were sent. “We will settle for nothing but complete cooperation from the DOJ.”

The Republicans are seeking communications “referring or relating” to the decision to execute and seek the search warrant.

They are demanding that any communications between the DOJ, FBI and the Executive Office of the President concerning the search be handed over. They are also seeking any communications between the three entities and the National Archives and Records Administration that have to do with the warrant.

The letters are a formalization to publicly demand that no documents connected to the raid are destroyed by the Biden administration or any federal agency that is connected to it.

The notices come in the wake of the FBI executing a warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home while he was in New York City. The agencies searched and seized items including three passports from the residence. An inventory list indicates that the FBI took dozens of items, many of which were documents allegedly labeled “classified” or “top secret.”

Unsealed court records connected to the raid claim that Trump was suspected of violating portions of the Espionage Act and laws relating to the destruction or concealing of documents, and the theft or destruction of government documents. Investigators listed top secret documents as part of the 33 items seized during the search.

Trump contested the search in a statement following the raid, asserting, “Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago.”

Republicans slammed Garland in the letter, saying, “Under your tenure, the Justice Department continues to shatter public confidence in the equal application of justice.”

“The department has filed politically motivated lawsuits against Republican-led states on policies disfavored by the Biden administration, artificially inflated domestic violent extremism statistics to advance the Biden administration’s political narrative, used counterterrorism resources to target parents at school board meetings opposed to policies supported by the Biden administration, and selectively prosecuted and investigated political opponents of the Biden administration. These actions not only undermine the stated mission of the department, they violate the most fundamental tenets of our country,” they charged.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) instigated the process of sending preservation notices to various Biden administration entities back in March in anticipation of a GOP House majority coming into play.

McCarthy warned the appropriate departments and agencies to preserve documents related to the activities of the Justice Department and the FBI, as well as the origins of COVID, and the catastrophic military evacuation from Afghanistan.

“I’ve seen enough,” McCarthy declared in a statement. “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization. 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,” he warned.

Republicans also want to see the entire, unredacted affidavit connected with the raid but the Biden administration is digging in its heels, claiming it would “irreparably harm the government’s ongoing criminal investigation.”

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Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
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