Mike Pence Tells GOP ‘Attacks on the F.B.I. Must Stop’ After Lawful Search of Trump Property

“The Republican Party is the party of law and order,” the former vice president said in New Hampshire, where he also indicated he’d consider testifying before the Jan. 6 committee if asked

Former Vice President Mike Pence urged fellow Republicans Wednesday to stop attacking the FBI over its search of Mar-a-Lago, reminding members of the GOP that theirs is meant to be “the party of law and order.”

After the FBI searched Donald Trump’s property Aug. 8, some supporters of the former president have lashed out at Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Department of Justice and its federal law enforcement agencies, using incendiary rhetoric despite the fact that the search warrant was legally authorized.

“I also want to remind my fellow Republicans, we can hold the attorney general accountable for the decision he made without attacking the rank-and-file law enforcement personnel at the FBI,” Pence said Wednesday at political event in New Hampshire, the AP reports.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, called the threats against the agency in the days that followed the search “deplorable and dangerous.”

“The Republican Party is the party of law and order,” Pence said. “Our party stands with the men and women who stand on the thin blue line at the federal and state and local level, and these attacks on the FBI must stop. Calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the police.”

The warrant used to search Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., home, was unsealed Friday and revealed that the former president is being investigated for potentially obstructing justice and violating the Espionage Act. An inventory of the search showed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked “top secret,” were removed from the property.

Pence has distanced himself from his former boss since the Trump presidency ended after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol came frighteningly close to harming the former vice president, who refused to go along with a plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that Joe Biden won.

“Our former president said I had the right to ‘overturn the election.’ President Trump is wrong,” Pence said in February. Since then, the former running mates have taken opposing sides in Republican primary races this year — furthering speculation about a possible fight for the White House in 2024.

On Wednesday, Pence appeared at an event the AP called a “customary stop for White House hopefuls.” In addition to his remarks supporting law enforcement, he indicated he might be willing to testify before the House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, which is set to resume public hearings in September.

“If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” Pence said. “If ever any formal invitation was rendered to us, we’d give it due consideration.”