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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday dodged a question about the FBI’s Monday search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home during a Kentucky press conference.
“I’m here to talk about the flood and recovery from the flood,” McConnell, R-Ky., said when asked about the raid.
McConnell was in his home state after floods recently hit the eastern part of his state, killing dozens. President Biden and Jill Biden even visited the state Monday in the wake of the natural disaster.
The minority leader’s refusal to talk about the search warrant served on Trump’s private home comes as Senate GOP leadership has been slower than their House counterparts to comment on the raid.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, walks to the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., slammed the FBI for searching Trump’s home Thursday. McConnell and his top deputy Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., have not opined the raid. Other members of the Senate GOP leadership team have commented.
Trump announced on Monday that his palatial Florida residence had been raided. Sources told Fox News Digital the search was in connection with materials that Trump took with him from his time as president. Sources also said National Archives and Records Administration referred the case to the Justice Department, which recovered 15 boxes of classified materials from the home.
TRUMP SAYS MAR-A-LAGO HOME IN FLORIDA ‘UNDER SIEGE’ BY FBI AGENTS
A source familiar told Fox News that the raid occurred early Monday morning. The source said agents brought a “safe cracker” and cracked a “relatively new” safe in Mar-a-Lago. The source told Fox News there was “nothing in it.”
High-ranking congressional Democrats, meanwhile, have generally held off from making pointed statements in the immediate wake of the raid.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were both asked about the raid on MSNBC. Neither would get into the details of it, but Pelosi said a warrant would “need justification.”
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A Senate Democratic aide told Fox News Digital top Democrats in the chamber are waiting for more information to come in on the raid before making significant comments or taking major actions in response to it.
Fox News’ Kelly Phares, Anders Hagstrom and Kwadar Ray contributed to this report.
