Pence Slams FBI Raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago as ‘Continued Partisanship’

Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks to a crowd during an event sponsored by the Palmetto Family organization in Columbia, S.C., on April 29, 2021. Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Former Vice President Mike Pence condemned the FBI for “continued partisanship” after agents waged an unannounced search of his former boss’s Florida home.

Former President Donald Trump, on his social media app Truth Social, said late on Aug. 8 that federal agents had raided his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, which was “under siege.” Agents left about 10 hours later with “a handful of boxes of documents,” said one of Trump’s attorneys on the scene.

“Yesterday’s action undermines public confidence in our system of justice and Attorney General [Merrick] Garland must give a full accounting to the American people as to why this action was taken and he must do so immediately,” Pence said in a Twitter thread on Aug. 9.

“After years where FBI agents were found to be acting on political motivation during our administration, the appearance of continued partisanship by the Justice Department must be addressed,” his post reads.

A White House official told The Epoch Times via email that it was not informed ahead of time of the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago.

The former vice president said he shares “the deep concern of millions of Americans” over the unprecedented move by the agents.

“No former President of the United States has ever been subject to a raid of their personal residence in American history,” Pence said, adding voice to the chorus of Republican leaders and Trump’s statement that “nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”

Trump had called the raid on Aug. 8 evidence of “prosecutorial misconduct” and a “weaponization of the Justice System,” as the former president is gearing up for a widely expected presidential run in 2024.

The legal basis the FBI had for the raid remained unconfirmed, yet is most likely connected to an investigation regarding Trump’s handling of official papers. The Trump family and his attorneys said the former president has been cooperative with government agencies since last year.

The FBI and DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Distance

Pence, the vice president who served as president of the Senate and presided over the joint session of Congress to count Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021, has faced criticism for certifying the 2020 general election results from those who dispute the results, including his former boss Trump.

Pence admitted in a June interview that he doesn’t know if he and Trump “will ever see eye to eye on my duties on Jan. 6.” “But, in the aftermath of that tragic day, we sat down, and we talked through it. ... we parted very amicably. And we spoke in the months that followed us leaving office,” he said.

“And now, I think we’ve kind of gone our separate ways over the last year, but I’ll always be proud of the record we created,” Pence told Fox News.

Speculation grows about a Pence 2024 candidacy as he continues to deliver speeches, including one to a conference of young conservatives in Washington on Aug. 9. He declined in March to rule out running for president in 2024.