Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is dismissing Republican threats of an investigation into the Department of Justice (DOJ) as an “idle” warning the day after the agency’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Asked during an interview with NBC’s “Today” Tuesday morning about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) threat the night before, Pelosi predicted that Democrats would retain control of the House in the November midterm elections.
“First of all, I think the Democrats are going to win the House. We’ve been prepared for it for a long time. And now, with what’s happening with Roe v. Wade and the legislation that we are passing, I think that whatever the leader is saying is probably idle,” Pelosi said.
Trump confirmed in a statement Monday night that his Mar-a-Lago residence had been “raided” by “a large group of FBI agents.” Multiple outlets later reported that authorities executed a search warrant on the location as part of the probe into materials Trump took with him to his Florida residence when he departed the White House.
The former president reportedly took boxes containing classified documents with him when he left Washington, a person familiar with the contents told The New York Times.
The DOJ is also investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election to keep himself in power.
Trump said the agents “even broke into my safe.”
Republicans were furious at the news of the raid, slamming the DOJ as a politicized agency and vowing to investigate the search.
“When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned,” McCarthy wrote on a statement posted on Twitter Monday night.
“Attorney General [Merrick] Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar,” he added.
McCarthy said the DOJ “has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”
Pelosi, however, is brushing aside the threat, despite a number of indications that Republicans are poised to win the lower chamber in the midterm elections.
According to FiveThirtyEight, Republicans are favored to win the House by 80 percent. And historically, the party that controls the White House typically loses seats during the midterm elections two years into a new president’s term.
“But nonetheless, we believe in the rule of law, and that’s what our country is about,” Pelosi said. “And no person is above the law, not even the president of the United States, not even a former president of the United States.”
The Speaker said she did not know more about the search other than what was in the public domain.
Rep. Mike Turner (Ohio), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, demanded a briefing on the search from FBI Director Christophre Wray.
“I am exceptionally skeptical of this being anything other than politically motivated. There are serious questions about the unprecedented FBI raid reportedly seeking classified materials from former President Trump’s residence,” Turner wrote on Twitter Monday night.
“As the Lead Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I am demanding an immediate briefing by FBI Director Wray regarding the national security risk that allegedly rose to the level of ordering a raid on the residence of a former President,” he added.
He sent a letter to Wray, who was nominated by Trump, with the request for a briefing for members of the House Intelligence Committee.