Brunswick Beacon, 08.18.22
After FBI agents searched Trump’s home, Ted Budd called it a “raid.” It wasn’t and he knows better. It was a lawful search conducted pursuant to a duly authorized warrant issued by a court upon probable cause, as required by the 4th Amendment to the Constitution.
David Rouzer also called it a “raid,” and “dangerous for the future of the country.” He said the FBI has a “record of political smears and retribution-particularly when it comes to President Trump” and called this “more of the same.”
The FBI, as Budd and Rouzer know, has been run for the last 5 years by Republican Christopher Wray, hand-picked by Trump after Trump fired Comey.
Budd and Rouzer ignored that to support Trump’s attack on the FBI. Trump called the search an “assault” and “weaponization of the Justice System,” and declared America a “broken, Third World Country” and “corrupt.”
When House Minority Whip Steve Scalise echoed those attacks, Fox’s Steve Doocy objected: “field agents are receiving specific death threats because there are a number of people online and elsewhere who are demonizing the FBI." Doocy specifically mentioned Marjorie Taylor Green tweeting “DEFUND THE FBI!” and Paul Gosar writing “We must destroy the FBI.” Alarmed, Doocy asked, “whatever happened to the Republican Party backing the blue?”
Later that day, a man in body armor carrying a nail gun and an AR-15 attacked the FBI’s Cincinnati field office. He fled, was pursued by police, and fired on them. He was killed in the exchange. He had posted a “call to arms” on social media that said he was “attacking the FBI” because it searched Trump’s house.
Budd and Rouzer fanned the flames before Jan. 6 by supporting Trump’s Big Lie. Now, they’re attacking law enforcement, putting targets on their back. Again, for Trump. We’ve suffered violence and death both times. They are unfit to hold public office.
Kristine Garrity
Calabash