Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan says the Mar-a-Lago raid 'was actually a win' for Trump
Gov. Larry Hogan, a Trump critic, said the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago has been a "win" so far.
Hogan argued that the search has ginned up GOP base supporters, who still largely back Trump.
The Republican governor said he was "happy" to see the Trump search warrant unsealed last week.
Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, one of former President Donald Trump's sharpest GOP critics, said on Sunday that so far, the FBI's search of the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence has been a "win" for the ex-commander-in-chief.
During an interview on ABC's "This Week," two-term governor and potential 2024 presidential contender opined that the search would only strengthen the former president's standing among core supporters just as he is expected to launch a third presidential candidacy in the coming months.
"There's a lot more that has to come out. I would say this week it was actually a win for Donald Trump," Hogan told co-anchor Jonathan Karl. "It seemed to motivate his base and people were rushing to his defense and feeling as if he was being picked upon and martyred."
"But I don't think we've seen the end of the story yet," he added.
Hogan said in a statement immediately after the Mar-a-Lago search that American citizens "deserve to know all the facts as soon as possible," despite being one of the president's biggest critics. The lawmaker, for instance, said he would have voted to convict the former president in his second impeachment trial for his role on January 6, 2021, if had he been in the Senate.
"I think no man is above the law, but everybody's innocent until proven guilty," Hogan said on Sunday. "So, we just have to see where this investigation leads."
Last week's release of the FBI search warrant and property list revealed that agents were looking for documents connected to potential violations of the Espionage Act, which bars the unauthorized removal of defense-related information that could aid a foreign government.
Trump is also being investigated for potential obstruction of justice violations.
"I was not one of the people that was just reacting, you know, just defending Donald Trump, but I understood that without anyone understanding what this was about, that it was going to and could lead to even further division and angry rhetoric from both sides," Hogan said. "And so I was happy that they did come out and unseal the documents on the search."
The warrant was unsealed after the Department of Justice pushed for its public release after the former president and many of his allies immediately launched political attacks calling into question the integrity of the department.
Trump has blasted the probe and denied reports that he was in possession of classified documents related to nuclear weapons, calling it a "hoax."
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