AFP

Senior Republican Party officials on Tuesday voiced their support for former US President Donald Trump after the FBI raid on his Florida residence sparked a political storm in a deeply polarized and divided country. The surprise raid on Monday exacerbated the judicial pressures on the 45th President of the United States, amid welcome from his political opponents and condemnation from his supporters. Several former Trump advisers have urged the former president to immediately confirm that he will be a presidential candidate in 2024. "Nothing like this has happened to a president of the United States before," Trump, 76, said of the FBI's search of his residence in Mar-a-Lago and continued throughout the day. He denounced what he described as "prosecutor's misconduct" and "weaponized use of the justice system" by "far-left Democrats who are desperately trying to stop me running for president in 2024". White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden had no advance notice of the raid and respects the independence of the Department of Justice. Asked about the possibility of unrest in response to Trump's legal problems, Jean-Pierre replied, "There is no place for political violence in this country." The FBI, led by Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump, refused to reveal the reasons for the unprecedented move against a former president. However, several US media reported that federal agents were conducting a warrant search in connection with possible mishandling of classified documents transferred to Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House in January 2021. A day after the raid, US Representative Scott Perry, an ally of Trump, announced that FBI agents had confiscated his cell phone, without explaining the reason why they did so. "This morning, on a trip with my family, three FBI agents visited and confiscated my cell phone," Perry told Fox News, denouncing what he called "this kind of banana republic tactic." Trump also faces intense judicial investigations into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and into the January 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Since leaving the White House, Trump, the country's most divisive figure, has been spreading misinformation about his 2020 election victory. - deep concern - Senior Republicans were quick to show support for the former president, who was not present in Mar-a-Lago when the raid occurred. Mike Pence, a former representative of Trump and a potential challenger in 2024, expressed "deep concern" about the searches of Trump's home, saying it showed "partisan bias" on the part of the Justice Department. Republican Representative Elise Stefanek described what happened as a "dark day in American history." "If the FBI can raid an American president, imagine what they can do to you," she garnered, to which Democratic Representative Ted Lieu replied, "Why can't the FBI investigate an American president? We are not Russia, where the law does not apply to the head of state." and his companions." For his part, Kevin McCarthy, a California Congress aspiring to the House of Representatives presidency if Republicans regain a majority in the House in the November midterm elections, accused the Department of Justice of engaging in "armed politicization." The Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called Amiya Dahm "disgraceful". As for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump, he said that "launching an investigation against a former president so close to the election is beyond problematic." After denouncing the raid in a lengthy statement on Monday evening, Trump's team announced Tuesday the launch of a fundraising campaign asking "every masculine, patriotic American to come forward" and donate to fight what Trump called "unending political persecution." Former Trump social media director Dan Scavino urged the former president to expedite announcing his candidacy again. "Rumble O 45, #Trump 2024," Scavino tweeted. - No one is above the law - Democrats responded to the raid with caution or declined to comment. "No one is above the law...not even a former president of the United States," Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told NBC. For his part, said Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, "Whenever we decide that the rich and powerful are above the law, America is no longer America." In his statement, Trump did not indicate why the FBI searched his home, but said, "They even broke into my safe." Andrew McCabe, a former deputy director of the FBI, said he believed the bureau might be looking for "something specific" about its investigation of supposed mishandling of classified information. In February, the US National Archives revealed that it had recovered 15 boxes of documents from Trump's residence in Florida and asked the Justice Department to investigate how Trump handled classified information. The recovery of the boxes has raised questions about Trump's compliance with presidential records laws created after the Watergate scandal in the 1970s that require presidents to keep records of their work. In an interview with CNN, McCabe said, "There must have been suspicion, concern and, in fact, specific information that led (the FBI) ​​to believe there was additional material that had not been delivered." Former Trump communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin told CNN that the raid could galvanize his supporters, a number of whom gathered in front of Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. "If you see (the raid) as a major transgression and not as a very serious matter, then this is a very good day for Donald Trump," she added.