SC’s Graham says belief stronger after FBI Mar-a-Lago search that Trump will run in 2024

Sen. Lindsey Graham said he believes now more than before that Donald Trump will seek reelection 2024 following FBI agents’ search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home.

Graham, a staunch Trump ally, said he spoke to Trump twice Tuesday, and characterized the former president as the leading contender to be the Republican presidential nominee. Gov. Henry McMaster also participated in one of the calls.

“One thing I can tell you is that I believe he was going to run before, I’m stronger in my belief now,” Graham told reporters at the State House Tuesday. “President Trump is determined now more than ever, to straighten this country out.”

Graham made the comments during a news conference with McMaster, where the two spoke about their opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act passed by the Senate Sunday.

Graham, who said no one is above the law, criticized the timing of the FBI’s search for confidential documents at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago with the midterm elections about three months away.

“The question is was this necessary? Did they work with the Trump family and organization in a fashion to avoid having to do the raid?” Graham said. “I don’t know, but here’s what I do know. I know doing this 90 days before an election reeks of politics. I know this is a dangerous precedent to set and, at the end of the day, there’s a tremendous burden on the Department of Justice in my view to explain their actions and I hope they will.”

FBI agents went to Mar-a-Lago Monday on a search warrant to search Trump’s Florida home for alleged classified documents that Trump had taken to his home when he left the White House. The former president first announced the “unannounced raid” Monday.

Earlier this year, the National Archives retrieved about 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago that should have been turned over when Trump’s term ended, the Washington Post reported.

The White House also said Tuesday it was not aware of the FBI search before it happened and only learned about it from public reports.

McMaster, who served as the U.S. attorney for South Carolina during the Reagan administration, criticized Attorney General Merrick Garland for a previous letter he sent asking for investigations into threats at school board meetings.

The letter was in response to the National School Board Association, which called threats against school board members over mask mandates to stop the spread of COVID-19 a form of terrorism.

“I had and still do have enormous confidence and respect for the FBI as an institution, but I have got to say the last few years, I’m looking for a reason to have confidence in the leadership of the FBI,” McMaster said. “Something is bad wrong when the leadership of the FBI is engaging in these kinds of fraudulent, misdirected, illegal and political, clearly political operations.”

Trump appointed current FBI Director Christopher Wray in 2017 after firing then-Director James Comey.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., spoke early Tuesday to CBS Mornings, calling Trump the most powerful voice in American politics and said the search raised more questions about the FBI.

But the potential 2024 presidential candidate differed from his South Carolina Republican colleagues’ remarks, saying it’s important to let the investigation play out.

“I have no idea what they were looking for, I don’t think anybody knows what they’re looking for,” Scott said.