Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) weighed in on the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Monday, arguing it could “undermine” the legitimacy of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) broader investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The search reportedly focused on the retention of classified material, in connection with Trump’s failure to turn over some presidential records at the end of his term, instead taking them to his Florida home.
“DOJ must immediately explain the reason for its raid & it must be more than a search for inconsequential archives or it will be viewed as a political tactic and undermine any future credible investigation & legitimacy of January 6 investigations,” Cuomo tweeted.
Trump announced on Monday that his Florida home had been raided after the FBI executed a search warrant.
“My beautiful home Mar A Lago in Palm Beach, Florida is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” wrote Trump.
The search of Trump’s home follows a summer of high-profile hearings from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which aimed to place Trump at the center of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.
The DOJ has continued its own probe of the events on and around Jan. 6, and Attorney General Merrick Garland has pledged to prosecute anyone who acted illegally in those efforts.
Figures across the political spectrum have been reacting to the Mar-a-Lago raid since news of the operation broke Monday evening.
Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin on Tuesday said the FBI’s raid could have “handed” Trump the presidency in 2024.
“If it’s seen as some sort of massive overreach and not something incredibly serious, this is a very good day for Donald Trump,” she said.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and businessman Andrew Yang said that it will be “excellent campaign material” for Trump, who has yet to officially announce a run in 2024.
“It looks increasingly like the FBI raid was to find mishandled classified documents and not some other DOJ investigation which was my first thought. Mishandling documents doesn’t seem like raid material,” Yang tweeted.
“It does however seem like excellent campaign material for Trump.”