Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said on Sunday that the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was “automatically political.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” moderator Jake Tapper asked Crenshaw “if law enforcement is innocent until proven guilty,” referring to the skepticism that the agency has faced for executing a search warrant at the Florida estate.
“People signing off on it doesn’t mean … that it has precedent,” Crenshaw replied. “It doesn’t. This is a very unprecedented measure. And you know that when you’re going after an ex-president who may run again that this is automatically political. You cannot separate the legal aspects from the political aspects. You can’t.”
Crenshaw also said he does not believe Department of Justice (DOJ) officials “acted responsibly.”
“Why not just ask him?” he said, referring to the documents seized by FBI agents at Trump’s estate.
Crenshaw’s remarks came after a federal judge said he is interested in unsealing parts of the affidavit used to justify the FBI’s search. The DOJ has argued that releasing the affidavit would jeopardize its ongoing investigation of Trump.
The legal maneuvering comes after federal authorities earlier this month executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and removed classified documents.
“It’s hard to justify what the Department of Justice did here, in my opinion,” Crenshaw said on Sunday.
“I still haven’t seen any evidence that Trump was even asked to give these documents back,” he said. “Why take it to this extreme extent?”
“It does seem unjust, and there does seem to be a long history of loss of credibility at the Department of Justice at the hands of Democrats. And I think people are rightfully frustrated about that,” he added.