Former RNC chairman: Assume all Republicans are 'dangerous until proven otherwise'
Michael Steele told MSNBC viewers on Wednesday that all Republicans are "dangerous until proven otherwise."
Former RNC chairman Michael Steele told MSNBC viewers that they should "assume" all Republicans are "dangerous until proven otherwise" while discussing the FBI's raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
During MSNBC's "All in with Chris Hayes," guest host Alicia Menendez, Steele and NBC News' justice reporter Ryan Reilly were discussing the FBI raid and the Republican response to the Justice Department action.
Menendez asked Reilly about comments from Republicans posted online criticizing the move and how "widespread" that sentiment was among the GOP.
"It's pretty widespread," Reilly said, noting a specific post online connected to a Jan. 6 defendant. He added that the FBI was still working through the Jan. 6 cases. "They’re more than 350 people who assaulted officers who still haven’t been arrested. So this is just a massive investigation. Throw on top of that, the Trump search as we saw, throw on top of that all of these threats. So there's going to be some stuff that slips through the cracks frankly."
Michael Steele joined MSNBC's "All in With Chris Hayes" on Tuesday to talk about the FBI raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. (Screenshot/MSNBC/AllInWIthChrisHayes)
TRUMP FBI RAID: AGENTS SEIZE MAR-A-LAGO DOCUMENTS IN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE
Menendez also said that Republican lawmakers were responding to the news and "going after the DOJ." She added that they were copying and pasting their "favorite lines" from Trump's statement into their own Twitter feeds.
"Where else are they gonna go? When have they shown a loyalty to anything other than Donald Trump? Not to the party itself, not to the country, not to its own members of the caucus. I give you Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. That loyalty is only, it's a one way street. Kevin McCarthy will find that out soon enough. And the reality of it is there is a price to be paid for that and that price is what we see right now," he said, adding that Trump was not the "animating character" of the party anymore.
He said the "infection" has fully entered the "bloodstream" of the Republican Party.
Former President Donald Trump (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
"Assume that it's all dangerous, that they're all dangerous, until proven otherwise because what else do you have to go on?" Steele said.
The FBI executed a search warrant on Monday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. The warrant was related to documents the former president allegedly brought to his private residence after leaving the White House.
Trump released a statement on Monday evening about the raid and said his home was "under siege."
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump claps as the crowd cheers him on during a rally in Washington Township, Michigan, U.S. April 2, 2022. (REUTERS/Emily Elconin)
"Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate," the former president said. "It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections."