Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told Newsmax on Monday that the Department of Justice and the FBI need to show Congress, if not the public, its affidavit regarding the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida so it can understand why the move was required.
''They should have a pretty high bar of this,'' Turner said on ''The Record With Greta Van Susteren.''
''This must rise to the level of immediate national security level in order for them to go into his home.''
FBI agents descended last week on Trump's Palm Beach resort and residence, asserting in a search warrant signed by a federal magistrate that the former president had documents there that were supposed to be turned over to the National Archives when he left the White House in January 2021.
The released documents also contained a list of the items taken, but the affidavit used to get the magistrate to sign the warrant, outlining the specifics of the crimes allegedly being investigated, is still under seal.
''They had the ability to go to court and even just enforce the subpoena that they had asking for a court to take possession of the documents, ordering the former president to deliver documents to them,'' he said. ''None of those actions were taken. They went all the way to raiding his home and spending nine hours [searching].''
Turner said that given the past treatment of former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, regarding a similar accusation, and that Trump is the political rival of President Joe Biden, and that he helped stop Attorney General Merrick Garland's appointment to the Supreme Court, more information is required for a bipartisan group in Congress to understand the urgency of this action.
''The members of the [House] Intelligence Committee, and certainly what's known as the Gang of Eight, which is a smaller group, even of the intelligence committee, and leadership from the Senate and the House, [DOJ] should be producing these documents to us now,'' said Turner, who is seeking reelection in Ohio's 10th Congressional District..
''They don't want to release the affidavit, as you've been reporting to the public, but they can release that affidavit to us, and they need to tell us; 'What did you say you were looking for, and what did you find?' Does this actually rise to the level of an immediate national security threat? Or is this merely abusive discretion on behalf of ''Attorney General [Merrick] Garland?'''
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!