Trump, not Merrick Garland, is playing a dangerous game with the FBI raid

Who’s really playing dangerous political games?

Trump and his supporters are up in arms, accusing the FBI of targeting him just because the agency doesn’t like him.

How quickly they’ve forgotten – or rather, how conveniently they keep ignoring – that Trump fired his own FBI chief, James Comey, who refused to pledge loyalty to him and wouldn’t let Trump use the agency to go after his political rivals.

Have they forgotten how Trump agreed with “lock her up” chants, referring to jailing his 2016 presidential opponent Hillary Clinton?

Have they forgotten that Trump urged a mob of armed followers to march into the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn the 2020 election results so he could remain in power?

Have they forgotten all the lies or the investigations into his private businesses practices?

This is just another distraction attempt

Of course, they haven’t.

Their outrage at the FBI’s raid at Trump’s Florida home is nothing more than a choreographed pretext to keep a grip on his followers and distract everyone else from Trump’s own lies and deception.

Another view: Merrick Garland is playing politics with the FBI raid

The FBI executed a lawful search warrant to retrieve documents after months of trying to do so with what Attorney General Merrick Garland called “less intrusive means.”

“The department does not take such a decision lightly,” Garland said during a Thursday news conference. “Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search, and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.”

Garland kept the search under wraps until Trump himself told the world about it, selectively disclosing only enough information to paint himself as the victim instead of the guy who took documents, some of them possibly classified.

Trump must tell the truth (not that he will)

A federal judge unsealed the warrant on Friday, which notes that various classified and top secret documents were recovered. It is part of an investigation into whether the former president violated three federal laws: removing or destructing records, obstructing an investigation and violating the Espionage Act.

Trump presumably had a copy of warrant and details of the investigation. Why not make all that public himself?

Media reports suggest agents may have been looking for nuclear documents and other items.

Trump must know whether that’s true or not. Why not tell the public the truth?

Because the former president is either incapable of that or is purposely smearing the FBI to further erode trust in America’s legal institutions – or both. And his people still love him for it.

Who’s really playing dangerous political games?

Elvia Díaz is the editorial page editor for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1. 

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump is playing a dangerous game with the FBI raid