Klobuchar: FBI investigation of Trump goes beyond politics

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Sunday condemned GOP criticism of the FBI following its search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property as “dangerous to our country,” hailing the agency for not bowing to partisan politics.

“This is beyond politics,” she told NBC “Meet the Press” guest anchor Andrea Mitchell.

“They’re simply doing their jobs,” Klobuchar said. “And we have to let them do their jobs.”

The FBI executed a search warrant of Mar-a-Lago on Monday, an unprecedented move against a former president. 

The warrant, which was unsealed on Friday, indicated agents executed the search after officials suspected Trump violated the Espionage Act and other laws related to the handling of government documents. 

The search resulted in the seizure of 11 sets of classified items, including one set labeled as “various classified/TS/SCI documents,” meaning top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information. Trump has said he unilaterally declassified the documents.

Klobuchar during the NBC interview declined to say if the Department of Justice (DOJ) should indict Trump if it believes he committed a crime, saying she would leave that decision to the DOJ.

“The law is king,” said Klobuchar. “The president isn’t king. And I would add to that the former president isn’t king. Everyone has to follow the laws.”

The Minnesota senator, who is a former county attorney, also raised alarm bells over a recent attack against an FBI building in Cincinnati on Thursday, tying it to recent GOP rhetoric that she said “concerns me so much.”

A man who is believed to have been in Washington, D.C., leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol allegedly tried to breach the building in Cincinnati while armed and wearing body armor, and he was ultimately shot and killed by police after a standoff.

“[These are] the kind of things that result when you’ve got a president that attacks law enforcement and attacks the law,” said Klobuchar on Sunday.

“I thought in the old days the Republican Party used to stand with law enforcement,” she added. “And I hope some of them do today because this kind of rhetoric is very dangerous to our country. These are career men and women that are simply doing their job.”