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Several Democrats who supported the raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate Monday previously criticized him for allegedly trying to “weaponize” the Justice Department on a number of different issues.
In a September 2019 tweet, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of trying to “weaponize” the Justice Department after it began investigating automakers who had reached a deal with California regarding fuel efficiency standards.
“The Department of Justice’s frivolous investigation of automakers who reached an agreement with California on new fuel efficiency standards is an effort to weaponize law enforcement for partisan political purposes,” Pelosi wrote. “This sham investigation must end now.”
In a statement on the matter, Pelosi said Trump’s weaponization of the DOJ was a part of the “Trump Administration’s toxic special interest agenda.”
HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO MEET WITH TRUMP AT BEDMINSTER, FOLLOWING MAR-A-LAGO FBI RAID
In May 2019, California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, now a member of the House select committee to investigate the January 6th Capitol protest, lashed out at Trump and former Attorney General William Barr as he accused them both of trying to “conspire” with one another in an attempt to gather information “against their political enemies.”
“While Trump stonewalls the public from learning the truth about his obstruction of justice, Trump and Barr conspire to weaponize law enforcement and classified information against their political enemies,” Schiff wrote in a tweet at the time. “The coverup has entered a new and dangerous phase. This is un-American.”
From left to right: Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. (SAUL LOEB/AFP, Kevin Dietsch, Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images)
Similarly, two years later, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., accused Barr of acting as Trump’s “personal henchman” following a report that claimed the DOJ secretly subpoenaed records for two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.
“This is an EXTREME and dangerous abuse of power,” Jayapal wrote. “It is wholly unacceptable to weaponize the DOJ against members of Congress. Bill Barr consistently acted as Trump’s personal henchman, and he must be held fully accountable for his actions.”
Earlier this year, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., one of seven Democrats serving on the nine-member January 6 committee panel, said Trump tried to “weaponize” the DOJ in an attempt “to retain power.”
“Today @January6thCmte will expose how Donald Trump tried to weaponize the Department of Justice in his desperate bid to retain power,” Raskin wrote. “Watch at 3pm ET as witnesses, including the former Acting Attorney General, reveal how Trump nearly made the Big Lie DOJ policy.”
Despite the Trump-era accusations made by the House Democrats, the party, overall, is now silent or lauding the Justice Department after Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida was raided by FBI agents on Monday.
Pelosi said Tuesday she believed the FBI must have “justification” for the raid.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., talks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington on July 21, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
“All I know about that is what is in the public domain. I was surprised that it flashed on my phone last evening, so I don’t really have too much to say except that to have a visit like that, you need a warrant. To have a warrant, you need justification. And that says that no one is above the law, not even a president or a former president of the United States,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Raskin, during an appearance on MSNBC, also responded briefly to the raid at Mar-a-Lago, insisting that Americans have an “interest” in the rule of law.
“The great thing about the separation of powers is we knew nothing about that,” Raskin said. “We don’t know whether that’s something related to what we’re working on or not…”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks during a hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., US, on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. ( Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Everybody in America, and speaking as a citizen, we all have an interest in the rule of law in the country and respect for the rule of law, and resistance to the lawlessness that seems to be always out there,” he added.
In a tweet issued Monday after the raid was made public, Jayapal sang a different tune as she claimed the FBI is taking steps toward “accountability” and suggested that Trump should be in prison.
“That’s what happens when you break the law, try to steal an election, and incite a deadly insurrection,” she wrote. “Donald Trump should be in jail. I’m glad to see the FBI taking steps towards accountability.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., speaks during a House Judiciary Committee markup on November 17, 2021. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Multiple sources tell Fox News the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago is related to the materials Trump allegedly brought to his private residence after his presidency concluded. That matter was referred to the Justice Department by the National Archives and Records Administration, which said it found classified material in 15 boxes at the residence.
Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations, though it is possible that Trump could try to argue that, as president, he was the ultimate declassification authority.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman, David Spunt, and Kelly Laco contributed to this article.
