Take a look:
DOUG MASTRIANO STATEMENT ON MAR-A-LAGO RAID. pic.twitter.com/6T74B6403l
— Doug Mastriano (@dougmastriano) August 9, 2022
He released a longer statement:
The main paragraph:
The raid on Mar-a-Lago was an unprecedented assault on the fundamental norms of the American legal system and represents an outrageous weaponization of America’s tools of justice against political opponents of the current regime in Washington, DC.
"Unprecedented" perhaps. an "assault on the fundamental norms of the American legal system" let's see.
The FBI was serving a search warrant on Mar-A-Lago, that's a fact. And, as NPR reports:
In short, a search warrant indicates that federal authorities have evidence of ongoing criminal activity at the location where they intend to carry out the search. Warrants are often used in situations where authorities believe a subpoena won't be effective. It is not itself a criminal charge.
Generally speaking, federal agents seeking a warrant must provide an affidavit that contains details about exactly what material they expect to seize during the search and why they believe it is at the location subject to the warrant. A judge reviews the affidavit and signs off on the warrant if they believe the details provided by the agents pass legal muster for probable cause.
I dunno. Sounds kinda "norm" to me. NPR goes on to say that FBI head Christopher Wray (appointed by Trump, doncha know) and AG Merrick Garland would probably have had to sign off on it along with the federal judge who approved the warrant.
More from NPR:
We don't know yet what exactly the FBI recovered in the raid. But the search is likely related to the 15 boxes of presidential documents that were removed from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year by the National Archives and Records Administration.
Some of the material recovered then was classified, Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed in February. The records reportedly included correspondence between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, along with a letter addressed to Trump written by outgoing President Barack Obama.
At the time, the NARA said that representatives for Trump were continuing to "search for additional Presidential records that belong to the National Archives."
Remember that? Remember when it was reported that he took classified documents out of the White House?
Trump does have the search warrant. Why doesn't he just release it to the public?
Lucky for Doug Mastriano, GOP candidate for PA Gov, it doesn't appear to be related to Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
But that does lead to something that, perhaps, he should be worried about.
This:
The F.B.I. on Tuesday seized the cellphone of Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania and the chairman of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, according to the congressman’s office.
Mr. Perry, who has been issued a subpoena by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, said three F.B.I. agents seized his phone Tuesday morning while he was traveling with family.
He even tweeted about it, forever friending Rep Perry:
@dougmastriano’s Statement On FBI Harassment Of @RepScottPerry pic.twitter.com/Ap4enQFY7f
— Doug Mastriano (@dougmastriano) August 9, 2022
We already know that Rep Perry is deeply embedded in Trump's plan to overturn the election he lost.
So was Doug, by the way.
Is Doug worried that they might seize his cell phone next? Or is he worried about what the FBI will find on Rep Perry's phone?
Those two are already connected via those now infamous DOJ notes.
Yea, I'm thinking State Sen. (and now GOP cand. for PA Gov) Doug Mastriano should be a little worried at this point.