A first step towards a trial for some, “political persecution” for others: the spectacular search of Donald Trump’s home by the FBI on Tuesday shed new light on the deep fractures of America, at a time when the ex-president ostensibly flirts with a new candidacy.
• Read also: Trump’s residence raided by FBI
Never had a former tenant of the White House been worried by justice in this way.
Does the federal police search have to do with the many boxes that Donald Trump took with him when he left the White House in January 2021? Is it related to the investigation into his responsibility in the assault on the Capitol? Does it rather relate to the suspicions of financial fraud of which the Trump Organization is the subject in New York?
AFP
Contacted by AFP, the FBI declined to comment.
Donald Trump, who claims his innocence in each of these cases and claims to be the subject of a witch hunt, strongly denounced the search by the federal police, which he did not attend, in a press release.
“Our nation is living through dark days”, he castigated, assuring that “this unannounced search of my home was neither necessary nor appropriate”.
“No one is above the law (…) not even a former president”, retorted Tuesday on NBC the Democratic president of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi – who, like most of the other tenors of her camp , has been calling for years to hold the ex-real estate mogul to account.
This judicial escalation seems to have at the same time cemented Donald Trump’s hold on the Republican Party, which has united around the former businessman – to the point of erecting him as a martyr.
Listen to Luc Laliberté, specialist in American politics at the microphone of Alexandre Dubé on QUB radio:
As soon as the search was announced, a group of supporters of Donald Trump went to the luxurious residence of the former businessman to shout their anger.
Several of them were waving “Biden is not my president” flags, yet another reminder that more than a year and a half following Donald Trump was defeated in the election, tens of millions of Americans remain firmly convinced that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him.
On social networks, some Trumpists purely and simply called for “divorce” on Tuesday, in this country with divisions so gaping that they may seem irreconcilable.
“These are the kinds of things that happen in countries in civil war,” said Marjorie Taylor Greene, an elected representative from Georgia known for her excesses, even calling for the dismantling of the FBI. “Political persecution MUST STOP!!!”
AFP
Denouncing an “intolerable instrumentalization for political purposes” of the Department of Justice, the leader of the conservatives in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, promised an investigation into its functioning when the Republicans return to power.
His camp might regain control of Congress in the November legislative elections, which promise to be perilous for Joe Biden’s camp.
Listen to Vincent Dessureault’s interview with Victor Bardou-Bourgeois on QUB radio:
On conservative favorite channel Fox News, the banners were also very critical of the raid: “The Justice Department’s increasingly radical tactics are a danger to the republic”, “Biden’s FBI ransacks home of one of his potential opponents for the 2024 election”, it was written.
Donald Trump, who already has a war chest of more than 100 million dollars (an unprecedented amount for a former president) and might declare himself a candidate for a new term at any time, jumped at the chance to launch an appeal to the generosity of his supporters.
“It wasn’t just my home that was attacked – it was the home of every patriotic American I fought for,” he pleaded in an email to his activists, suggesting a donation of 5 to 5000 dollars to fight a “witch hunt”.
