"Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy challenged Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., to justify conservative attacks on the FBI following a search of Donald Trump's home.
The Louisiana Republican appeared Thursday morning on the Fox News program to discuss the FBI removal of boxes of presidential records from Mar-A-Lago while executing a search warrant, which has prompted Republican outrage and violent threats against law enforcement officials.
"People from the political right talk about how the FBI and the [Department of Justice] have been weaponized against Donald Trump," Doocy said, "and the way it works is the Department of Justice essentially tells the FBI go in and look for this stuff. The FBI, with 35,000 members, you know, now they apparently are receiving a lot of specific field agents are receiving specific death threats because there are a number of people online and elsewhere who are demonizing the FBI, and some Republicans."
Doocy pointed to comments from Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who called for the FBI's destruction, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene R-Ga., who said the bureau should lose its funding, and asked Scalise to explain their position.
"I'm just curious whatever happened to the Republican Party backing the blue?" Doocy said.
Scalise suggested some bad apples within the FBI had carried out the search at the former president's private resort.
"We're very strong supporters of law enforcement," Scalise said, "and it concerns everybody if you see some agents go rogue and if you see an agency that doesn't have the right checks and balances at the top. This is coming from the top."
Doocy pushed back on the lawmaker's claims.
"Who went rogue?" Doocy said. "They were following a search warrant."
Scalise said the Department of Justice had a lot of explaining to do.
"We want to find that out," he said. "That's why we are asking these questions because, you know, there were reports yesterday that [attorney general] Merrick Garland said he didn't even know about this raid. I don't know if anybody believed that, but he should be asked under oath if he knew about the raid prior to it happening. He has to answer that question why hasn't he held a press conference? Why won't President [Joe] Biden talk about this with the press? I think that is deafening right now that silence."
Co-host Brian Kilmeade brought up Rep. Scott Perry's claim that FBI agents seized his cell phone, and co-host Ainsley Earhardt lamented that the seizure took place on his vacation, and Scalise agreed that was also concerning.
"These are all things that are concerning," Scalise said, "and then by the way they want to add 87,000 more IRS agents at the same time that they are weaponizing other agencies."
Doocy pressed on, asking why Republicans could hold off their strongest criticism until more was known about the search and what it turned up.
"Why not wait a week or so until we know more about this search warrant than, you know, immediately rush to judgment and say yeah, the FBI, they are crazy?"
Shares