In the wake of an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Monday, some Republicans running for office in Arizona are calling it politically-motivated by the Justice Department. The irony is the current FBI director is a Trump appointee.

Accusations of a corrupt federal investigation were leveled by Republicans Kari Lake and Blake Masters shortly after Trump confirmed the search, although current FBI director Christopher Wray was confirmed in 2017 after Trump nominated him.

Gage Skidmore/CC BY 2.0

Kari Lake and Blake Masters at a rally during Country Thunder in Florence, Arizona, in January 2022.

Arizona political consultant Chuck Coughlin called the reaction by Lake and Masters predictable and referred to the Dept. of Justice investigation. “The question comes down to: ‘Is anybody above the law?’ And, if they believe there’s been a violation of some law or documents that [Trump] has shouldn’t be in his possession, then they have a choice to make on what to do about that,” he said.  

The Masters campaign pointed KJZZ to a Twitter video recorded by the candidate. 

“It’s unprecedented. It’s outrageous and the timing, the timing is not accidental. The midterms are three months away. The Democrats have failed and they know it, so they’re trying to change the narrative,” he said.

Masters is seeking to unseat current Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly.

The Biden White House said it was not informed prior to the search.