Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Ron DeSantis defends Trump and blasts Biden administration after Mar-a-Lago raid

Florida governor blames Biden administration for ‘weaponisation of federal agencies’

Sravasti Dasgupta
Tuesday 09 August 2022 14:11 BST
Comments
FBI conducts raid at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has defended Donald Trump after Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents executed a search warrant at the former president’s Palm Beach, Florida, home at his Mar-a-Lago club on Monday evening.

In a statement on Twitter, Governor DeSantis hit out at the Biden administration.

“The raid of MAL [Mar-a-Lago] is another escalation in the weaponisation of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves. Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic.”

Mr DeSantis won the 2018 Florida GOP gubernatorial primary in large part because of an endorsement from the former president.

However, the two do not have a close relationship. Mr DeSantis even declined to ask Trump for an endorsement ahead of his 2022 re-election bid, reported Politico.

On Monday, announcing the raid at Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump also claimed, without offering evidence, that the raid on his Palm Beach residence was “prosecutorial misconduct” and “the weaponisation of the justice system” meant to keep him from running for president the 2024 election.

He said his private residence was “currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents” who, among other things, “broke into” a safe belonging to him.

The former president is being investigated for his push to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He is being probed for his role in last January’s Capitol riot by a congressional committee.

Archivist David Ferriero told the January 6 committee in February that the National Archives and Records Administration had been in communication with Mr Trump throughout 2021 about the return of 15 boxes of records that the former president reportedly took with him to his Florida residence in violation of federal law.

He eventually returned them in January 2022.

On Monday evening, the former president’s son Eric Trump said the raids appeared to be in connection with the boxes of documents taken to Mar-a-Lago.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in