A Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida has said he would have sent FBI agents home “in a body bag” if they had raided his home the way they searched Mar-a-Lago.
Martin Hyde, a businessman, made the remarks in a video posted to YouTube on Friday as he competes in an apparent longshot effort to defeat Republican Representative Vern Buchanan in the August 23 primary.
Hyde’s comments follow the FBI raid at former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence as part of an investigation into the handling of White House documents.
The FBI has warned of increased threats against members of the agency following the search at Mar-a-Lago, which prompted a furious response from Trump and his allies.
“When they turned up at Mar-a-Lago and raided the home of President Trump, that was an assault on every one of the 75 million people that voted for Donald Trump. It was a assault on democracy,” Hyde said.
“These people would stop at nothing. I wish they’d turn up at my home ’cause they’d have gone home in a body bag,” he said.
“The bottom line here is that we have a Department of Justice that is not any more interested in justice,” Hyde went on, saying Republicans in the House were “weak” and criticizing Buchanan, saying he should be “ashamed” for voting to certify the 2020 presidential election.
“I am absolutely outraged about the attack on President Trump,” Hyde said and added that Buchanan and Attorney General Merrick Garland should “go home.”
Hyde issued a statement to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune about his video, writing in a text to the newspaper: “The FBI starts acting for a politically motivated (Department of Justice) they are more acting like tyrants and that’s why we have the Second Amendment.”
“Did you even consider I might be using hyperbole and rhetoric because I know how susceptible you are to it?” he wrote. “No point in spending money on mailers when you’ll print my name for free.”
Newsweek has asked the FBI for comment.
Hyde’s comments echo remarks made by Trump, who called the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago “a sneak attack on democracy.”
“America has never suffered this kind of ABUSE in Law Enforcement!” Trump said in the same statement published on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint intelligence bulletin last Friday warning about an “unprecedented” number of threats directed at government officials and that those threats were “occurring primarily online and across multiple platforms.”
Hyde appears to be facing an uphill battle for a seat in the House. Buchanan has represented the state’s 16th district since 2013 and previously represented the state’s old 13th district. He was first elected in 2006.
Giorgio VIERA / AFP/Getty Images
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