“I also want to remind my fellow Republicans we can hold the attorney general accountable for the decision that he made without attacking the rank-and-file law enforcement personnel at the FBI,” Pence announced to applause at an event at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.
“The Republican Party is the party of law and order. Our party stands with the men and women who serve on the thin blue line at the federal, state, and local levels. And these attacks on the FBI must stop,” Pence went on.
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“Calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the police. And the truth is, we must get to the bottom of what happened. We need to let the facts play out,” Pence continued. “But more than anything else, the American people need to be reassured in the integrity of our justice system, and the appearance of a recurrence of politics playing a role in decisions at the Justice Department demands transparency as never before.”
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Pence announced he would call on Attorney General Merrick Garland to release a complete accounting of the reasons behind the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property last week, throughout which federal agents recovered many boxes of classified and top secret materials the former president had taken from the White House.
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“This unprecedented action does demand unprecedented transparency,” Pence announced.
Trump himself has repeatedly attacked the FBI in the week since the search, blaming the agents without evidence for planting evidence. Some Republicans, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.), have called to defund or dismantle the FBI entirely.
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Different Republicans have directed their fury at Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, with some lawmakers vowing an investigation or to impeach the officials if Republicans gain power after the midterms.
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An armed man tried to breach an FBI building in Cincinnati on Thursday. Republicans denounced the attack and threats against law enforcement officers.
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Pence, who is widely seen as laying the groundwork for a 2024 presidential bid, has been willing to call out members of his own party on certain issues in the past. He formerly chided Republicans who praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in the wake of the attack on Ukraine.