“There is no justification for sending 30 freaking FBI agents to the former president's compound in Mar-a-Lago in early morning and conducting themselves this way,” talk-radio host Mark Levin said Monday on Hannity, following the raid of Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Fla., by the FBI.
Levin said he raid was “a pretext” to attack the former president. “Now you keep asking your guests: what's the justification?” said Levin to host Sean Hannity. “There is no justification.”
“I'm a former chief of staff to the United States Attorney General,” said Levin, who served under Attorney General Edwin Meese during the Reagan administration. “We would never ever have done this. Never! That's number one.”
“Number two, it's 90 days before the midterm election,” he said. “That's outrageous. Number three, everybody pretty much knows that Donald Trump is going to run in the Republican primary for president of the United States. And so you have a sitting president who wants to run against him and his attorney general acting like this.”
Levin also called this raid the “worst attack on this republic in modern history,” and ridiculed Attorney General Merrick Garland for his past actions, saying, “The FBI is corrupt, this guy Garland goes after parents, he goes after Republican state legislatures, he goes after states he disagrees with their abortion positions, he doesn't do a damn thing to protect the border, which is compelled by the Constitution. Nothing.”
Levin further stated that the FBI raid is not just an attack on the former President Trump, but against anyone who might support him.
“This is the worst attack on this republic in modern history, period,” said Levin. “And it's not just an attack on Donald Trump. It's an attack on everybody who supports him, it's an attack on anybody who dares to raise serious questions about Washington, D.C., and the establishment in both parties.”
“I haven't heard a damn thing from the Republican leadership in the Senate, have you?” he added. “Not one of those guys has put out a statement. Because they are weak.”
Levin continued, “Just watch how this attorney general conducts himself, politicizes everything. The parents he goes after, he doesn't enforce the border, he goes after the men who he claims were whipping immigrants. They weren't whipping anybody. Look how they went after those four cops who were found innocent in Kentucky, but now they bring civil rights charges up against them. Look how they are nationalizing police forces across the country. Just look at this Department of Justice! It's the most corrupt thing I've ever seen, and I've been there, and I’ve worked there, and they have ruined that department!”
The following is a transcript of this portion of the segment:
Hannity: “Is there anything that you can possibly think of that warranted this raid on a former president's residence as it relates to archives potentially of classified material when the president, according to his son Eric, was working hand-in-hand in tandem with the archives people to get them anything that they might need?”
Levin: “Alright, first of all, I'm a former chief of staff to United States attorney general. We would never ever have done this. Never. That's number one. Number two, it's 90 days before midterm election. That's outrageous. Number three, everybody pretty much knows that Donald Trump is going to run in the Republican primary for president of the United States. And so you have a sitting president who wants to run against him and his Attorney General acting like this. Here's how this worked. Everybody is guessing, I will tell you what happened. This is in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Attorney in District of Columbia who is also overseeing the January 6 prosecution. Why? Because that's where the national archives is in the District of Columbia. They need to send FBI agents from the Washington office down there, they would have used FBI agents in South Florida, and they would have coordinated with the U.S. Attorney's office down there if they are playing it by the book. Number two, he wouldn't have done anything without the signoff of the Attorney General of the United States. Period. Number three, this was well orchestrated, so this has been going on for weeks. Now you keep asking your guests: what's the justification? There is no justification. What's he going to say tomorrow, the attorney general? Here's my guess. We've been negotiating with Trump and his lawyers since February when we found out they had this information. We were getting nowhere, and then we know, or we heard, that some documents were being destroyed. Maggie Haberman of The New York Times was on CNN. They've been running pictures of hers that she's going to have in the book of documents being flushed down the toilet. That doesn't mean a damn thing. It could be anything.”
Hannity: “It had Elise Stefanik's name on it, that’s all it was!”
Levin: “Okay, but what I'm saying is you’ve asked what would the pretext be.”
Hannity: “Correct.”
Levin: “ And so it is a -- pretext is exactly right. There is no justification for sending 30 freaking FBI agents to the former president's compound in Mar-a-Lago in early morning and conducting themselves this way or in any other cases in which they've done exactly the same thing. The FBI is corrupt, this guy Garland goes after parents, he goes after Republican state legislatures, he goes after states he disagrees with their abortion positions, he doesn't do a damn thing to protect the border, which is compelled by the Constitution. Nothing. So let's be clear. Newt is right, they are all right. This is the worst attack on this republic in modern history.
"Period. And it's not just an attack on Donald Trump. It's an attack on everybody who supports him, it's an attack on anybody who dares to raise serious questions about Washington, D.C., and the establishment in both parties. I haven't heard a damn thing from the Republican leadership in the senate, have you? Not one of those guys has put out a statement. Because they are weak. That's why. Every Republican –”
Hannity: “Well no, we did, well hang on – Mark, we did hear from the leader -- the minority leader in the House.”
Levin: “I said in the Senate.”
Hannity: “I know you said the Senate but I just wanted to make sure people know -- he said: ‘Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar.’ Ron DeSantis said, ‘the raid on Mar-a-Lago is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the regime's political opponents while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves. Now the regime is getting another 87,000 IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic.’”
Levin: “Yeah, and he's right. Let me tell you something, just watch how this Attorney General conducts himself. Politicizes everything. The parents he goes after, he doesn't enforce the border, he goes after the men who he claims were whipping immigrants. They weren't whipping anybody. Look how they went after those four cops who were found innocent in Kentucky, but now they bring civil rights charges up against them. Look how they are nationalizing police forces across the country. Just look at this Department of Justice! It's the most corrupt thing I've ever seen, and I've been there, and I’ve worked there, and they have ruined that department!”