Fox News’ John Roberts Fact-Checks House Republican’s Claim About Mar-a-Lago Raid: ‘That Wasn’t the Case’
John Roberts gave Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) a quick fact-check about the search warrant executed at former President Donald Trump’s residence last year.
The current administration is also taking its own heat over government materials found in President Joe Biden’s home and office. The documents – some of which are classified – date from his time as vice president. In this case, lawyers for Biden found the documents and promptly notified the government.
Republicans have seized on the fact that the attorneys do not have the appropriate security clearances and should not be looking at the material.
On Wednesday’s America Reports on Fox News, Roberts asked about a looming House Oversight Committee probe into the Biden case.
“What is this investigation going to look like?” he asked Donalds, who sits on the committee.
“Well, listen, the number one question is going to be why the double standard in the way the FBI is utilized by the Department of Justice?” Donalds responded. “They had no problem raiding Mar-a-Lago, but let’s go back even before the Mar-a-Lago raid. Donald Trump’s attorneys were in negotiations and talks with the National Archives. They were well aware of what was happening at Mar-a-Lago. So why the FBI raid?”
But as Roberts was about to point out, lawyers for the former president told the Department of Justice in June that Trump no longer possessed government material he was supposed to give to the National Archives upon leaving office. Any “negotiations” about the documents in question would have ceased after Trump’s team claimed the former president had returned all material.
However, that proved not to be true after the FBI found documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in August.
“Going back to Mar-a-Lago, those negotiations had gone on for more than a year between the Department of Justice and… the president’s post-presidential organization and the National Archives and Records Administration,” Roberts noted. “But at some point, President Trump’s attorneys told those entities that all of the documents had been handed over when that wasn’t the case, which is what prompted the raid.”
Roberts asked Donalds if he still believes there is a “double standard” in how the DOJ handled each case.
“Oh, absolutely,” he responded. “Without a doubt. Because here’s the other thing. You get leaks to the press, pictures of documents toss all over the floor. I mean, come on.”
Donalds accused the Biden administration of having overseen the “weaponization of the federal government.”
Watch above via Fox News.
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