'Defund the FBI!' Trump allies are not happy with Mar-a-Lago raid.

After former President Donald Trump announced Monday that FBI agents had searched his Mar-a-Lago residence, apparently seeking classified documents he failed to hand back to the government, "supporters of the former president reacted in the kind of calm, measured tone we've come to expect from the MAGA movement," Rex Huppke deadpanned at USA Today.

A couple dozen Trump supporters gathered outside Mar-a-Lago on Monday night to vent their anger about the raid. Prominent Republican lawmakers and officials complained about "politicization" of the Justice Department. There were many mentions of Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton, and a lot of comparing the FBI's execution of a search warrant to various dictatorships, totalitarian regimes, and "Banana Republics." Several conservatives called for dismantling the FBI.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.