Tuesday 9 August 2022 10:07 PM White House still has nothing to say about Trump raid 20 hours later aside trends now
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, at least a dozen times on Tuesday, declined to comment on the federal raid into Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
She repeatedly said she would not comment on FBI agents entering the former president's private residence and would only say that President Joe Biden had no head's up from the Justice Department that the raid was coming.
'The President was not briefed,' she said and 'was not aware of it.'
'No one at the White House was given a heads up,' she added.
In response to repeated questions, Jean-Pierre said over and over again the White House would not comment on the raid that had happened the day before.
'We're not going to comment from here from this White House on a criminal investigation that is currently happening,' she said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, at least a dozen times on Tuesday, declined to comment on the federal raid into Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden had no head's up on the raid at Mar-a-Lago; 'The President was not briefed,' she said, noting 'no one at the White House was given a heads up'
She refused to answer questions on the political implications of the raid.
Republicans charge politics at play with the raid coming as Trump is considering another run for the White House and the 2022 midterm election, which will determine control of Congress, about 90 days away.
The Monday raid at Mar-a-Lago was reported to be part of an investigation into whether Trump took classified documents with him when he left the White House.
The Justice Department and the FBI have repeatedly declined to comment.
Jean-Pierre refused to say whether Biden wanted Attorney General Merrick Garland to explain publicly the rationale for the search amid the concerns about politicization of the probe.
'The Justice Department conducts investigations independently and we leave any law enforcement matters to them,' she said. 'We are not involved.'
Jean-Pierre said Biden learned of the raid from 'public reports' but wouldn't give any more specifics. And she emphasized Biden's committment to keep the Justice Department independent of the White House. Trump was criticized for trying to influence DoJ investigations as president.
'The president in the White House learned about this FBI search from public reports we learned just like the American public did yesterday, and we did not have advance notice of this activity. President Biden has been very clear from before he was elected president and throughout his time in office at the Justice Department conducts its investigations independently,' she said.
She didn't answer when asked if Garland approved the raid.
'I don't have anything more to share,' she said. 'We have not been briefed on this.'
Republicans rushed to the former president's defense.
Mike Pence, who was vice president under Trump and is a potential 2024 rival, tweeted Tuesday: 'Yesterday's action undermines public confidence in our system of justice and Attorney General Garland must give a full accounting to the American people as to why this action was taken and he must do so immediately'
Eric Trump told Fox News that Biden's White House
