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Former Vice President Mike Pence demanded that the "appearance of continued partisanship" by the Justice Department be addressed after the "unprecedented" raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
"I share the deep concern of millions of Americans over the unprecedented search of the personal residence of President Trump," Pence tweeted Tuesday. "No former President of the United States has ever been subject to a raid of their personal residence in American history."
"After years where FBI agents were found to be acting on political motivation during our administration, the appearance of continued partisanship by the Justice Department must be addressed," Pence said, adding that the raid "undermines public confidence in our system of justice."
Donald Trump and Mike Pence pose together on a stage. (Getty Images)
Pence's statement emerged only after many other Republicans had commented before him, despite the close relationship Pence says he had with Trump in the White House.
Senior Senate Republicans, who have themselves reacted only gradually, Tuesday demanded that the FBI immediately release information about its raid of former President Trump's Florida estate, which they are calling a major law enforcement escalation against a former president.
The statements, from GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Vice Conference Chair Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Rick Scott, R-Fla., come as top Senate Republicans overall have been slower to comment on the raid than their counterparts in House GOP leadership.
Pence added: "Attorney General Garland must give a full accounting to the American people as to why this action was taken and he must do so immediately."
Trump's private residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., was raided by the FBI early Monday morning, a source told Fox News. Trump was in New York City at the time of the raid.
An FBI source confirmed to Fox News that FBI agents from Washington, D.C., who are on the bureau's Evidence Response Team, conducted the raid and notified the Miami Field Office just before.
A source familiar told Fox News that agents brought a "safe cracker" and cracked a "relatively new" safe in Mar-a-Lago. The source told Fox News there was "nothing in it."
A source familiar told Fox News that FBI agents went to Mar-a-Lago and looked in every single office and safe, and grabbed documents and boxes without going through them on the property. They took boxes and documents to go through them later.
"They were not being judicious about what they took," the source told Fox News.
Trump made the raid public Monday evening, saying in a lengthy statement that "nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before."
Donald Trump leaves New York City after the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago resort. (Felipe Ramales/Fox News Digital)
TRUMP RAID LINKED TO DOJ, NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROBE INTO CLASSIFIED DOCS ALLEGEDLY TAKEN TO MAR-A-LAGO
Meanwhile, Pence, during an exclusive sit-down interview with Fox News in June, said during the Trump administration, he and the former president had been "very close friends."
Former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. (Reuters)
"We parted very amicably on Jan. 20," Pence said. "I don’t know if the president and I will ever see eye to eye on my duties on Jan. 6, but, in the aftermath of that tragic day, we sat down, and we talked through it. And then we rolled our sleeves up and finished the final weeks of our administration working together.
"And we parted very amicably. And we spoke in the months that followed us leaving office—we spoke with some regularity," Pence continued. "And now, I think we’ve kind of gone our separate ways over the last year, but I’ll always be proud of the record we created."
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Pence also told Fox News that he "will not allow the Democrats" to use Jan. 6 to "distract attention from their failed agenda" and praised former President Trump’s record.
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