Yesterday, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox News Channel’s America Reports to discuss the FBI’s unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago. Whip Scalise called out the years of persecution President Trump has faced, and the lack of transparency from the Department of Justice on what could have possibly justified the raid of a former president over a records dispute.

In addition, Whip Scalise called out President Biden and Congressional Democrats for lying to the American people about the true cost of their big government socialist agenda and emphasized that their far-left legislation would turbocharge inflation. Whip Scalise also highlighted the dangerous and expensive provisions in Democrats’ radical reconciliation bill, like adding 87,000 IRS agents to snoop on law-abiding citizens’ bank accounts of families making less than $400,000, which breaks President Biden's promise that he made during the 2020 campaign.
On the FBI's unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago: 

“Once again, we haven't still have a heard full explanation from the Department of Justice. And yesterday, [Attorney General] Merrick Garland talked about the law being applied evenly. And I think that's really at the heart of the most anger you're seeing at this unprecedented action. Does anybody really think that they've applied these laws evenly to past presidents? [What about people like] Hillary Clinton [and] others who have had classified information?

“President Trump is making it clear he declassified this, but he also was complying with the intelligence agencies when they recommended [putting] some of the information behind lock and key. He did that. So, he was already in compliance. They knew he was even out of the state.

“I mean, he's being harassed by the Attorney General of New York who ran on a platform of going after him, not trying to find wrongdoing, just going after [President] Trump because so many of these people have made a career out of just going after [President] Trump because they hate him and his family personally.

“And I think people are disgusted by that abuse, where you see agencies just targeting someone because they don't like him or his political views. That's not what justice is about. It's about being blind and about following the facts. And I think there was a lot of concern that that hasn't happened here.”

On President Trump handling confidential information with care: 

“We know this – previous presidents have had classified information and, again, that's a conversation that goes on between the intelligence agencies and former presidents where they allow certain things to be held but held in certain ways. And again, if they had asked President Trump to keep some of that stuff behind lock and key, he's already said he did that.

“So, there's a lot of back and forth here. Also, the president has the ability, like any president does, to declassify information, and again, you're hearing President Trump say he did declassify a lot of that information. So, you know, does this warrant what is an unprecedented action that's never before happened in our country's history? It still hasn't been explained days later by the Department of Justice.” 

On federal agencies persecuting Donald Trump since the day he announced he was running for president:

“President Trump's been clear all along that he had been working with those agencies, as former presidents have as well. And then, all of a sudden, it goes to this unprecedented jump. And that's what's got a lot of people alarmed, especially when you look at the history.

“And you can't ignore the history that there were people in some of these agencies from the day President Trump announced for president who were seeking to destroy him to undo his ability to run for president to try to get him removed from office when he was sitting as president. And now, after he's left office, to still go after him personally. And I think that's really what is concerning people is we know that happens in third world countries, we don't want that to be what the United States of America is about.

“And so, that's why they have some serious questions to answer because it sure looks that way. When you look at the whole history – I mean, people have lied on FISA warrants. The dossier was fabricated by a political campaign of Hillary Clinton and then, ultimately, used as a basis by the FBI to go after [President] Trump.

“So many times we've seen this, and it's just concerning and alarming, and it's not the way that they should be conducting business when justice is and should be blind. If we're going to have this system of justice in the United States, it's got to be a tenant that all people are treated equally. And if your name is 'Trump,' you're treated one way, and if it's 'Clinton' or 'Biden' or anyone else, you're treated a different way. That's not how it should be.”

On the FBI and the Department of Justice failing to brief Members of Congress on what led to the raid on Mar-a-Lago:

“I'm very disappointed that [Members of Congress haven't] already [been briefed]. And I've talked to some of those people who are historically briefed in a classified setting on things like this. It hasn't happened in this case yet. It should have happened days ago.

“So, why is the Justice Department continuing to withhold a lot of this information, even in classified settings where they have in the past, briefed Members of Congress, especially those members who are typically involved in those secure classified briefings?”

On the negative ramifications of the Biden Administration going after a political rival:  

“The world is watching, and frankly, I think that's why you've seen so many problems with our foreign policy in the last year and a half because the world recognizes we don't have a steady hand leading the United States government right now.

“You you've seen our allies abandon in certain ways. You've seen adversaries going and moving aggressively against our allies in other countries. You see it in Ukraine. You see it in Taiwan. You see what Iran continues to do. Where is the strength of leadership by the President to stand up and say this won't happen under my watch? The President hasn't even acknowledged whether or not he knew about this prior to the execution of this plan.

“I mean, [Attorney General] Merrick Garland is at least said he knew about it in advance and signed off. Did President Biden know about it in advance? He won't even answer that question, and that breeds distrust. It breeds a lot of questions about who's really calling the shots here.”

On Democrats holding a vote on their massive tax-and-spending spree before the Congressional Budget Office can review the entire bill:

“We've already seen a lot of the devastating consequences this bill will do to hardworking families who are already struggling under President Biden's inflation [and] high gas prices. 

“Is this going to make it better or worse? Well, just look at what CBO has said so far. They haven't evaluated the whole bill. They have said this [bill will hire an] army of 87,000 new IRS agents – more than [double] the size of the IRS – that they will be going after people making less than $400,000. That would break President Biden's pledge. They said, by the way, that lower-income families will be paying $20 billion in new taxes just from the IRS agents.

“On top of that, they have an energy tax in this bill. So, if you don't think you're paying enough for gasoline now, in this bill, you will be paying more for gasoline, more for your utility bills because this bill has a multi-billion-dollar tax increase on energy.

“It's also got taxes that are going to hit small businesses and make it harder to create jobs at a time when inflation is already too high because of spending. They're going to spend over $700 billion more.

“Everybody knows [there are] budget gimmicks [in this bill]. When they say [their bill is] going to reduce the deficit, does anybody really believe that? When they have three years of spending accounted for even though it's permanent new programs where they expand Obamacare so that people making over $100,000 a year will get new Obamacare subsidies at the expense of lower-income people who will be paying higher taxes.

“That's not what we should be doing at a time of inflation and, frankly, the recession that our country's in. This will make it worse. I've urged a 'No' vote. We've whipped against the bill. Frankly, if we have four Democrats that vote no, the bill fails.

“So, anybody out there watching who's represented by a Democrat in Congress, if every Republican votes no, as I'm sure we will all vote no, all we need is four Democrats to vote no, and this bill fails, and you don't get that gut punch that the middle class is going to get if this bill passes.”

On President Biden breaking his promise not to raise taxes on families making less than $400,000:

“Sandra, there was an amendment to make sure that would not apply to people making under $400,000, and every Democrat in the Senate voted against it, so the amendment was defeated.

“So, clearly, their intention is not the millionaires and billionaires. Their intention is this 87,000 army – think of any NFL stadium in America completely filled with new IRS agents – going after people making less than $400,000 in violation of President Biden's promise. It's been guaranteed. We know that it will happen. CBO confirmed it today.”