"[T]hey certainly could have asked him and then he would have returned it"

Graham’s comments on the conservative Real America’s Voice network surfaced Monday on Twitter. Allies of Trump have called the FBI search a politically motivated overreach. Graham’s comments came days after the Justice Department released an affidavit stating that Trump’s team had been notified Mar-a-Lago was not authorized to store classified documents.

“It’s frightening to see government agents going to a former president’s home and going through his personal files; going into it, breaking into his safe and taking things that they want,” Graham told the network. “If they felt that he had something that belonged to the government, they certainly could have asked him and then he would have returned it.”

GOP Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois tweeted, “They asked for months. But you know that. ‘Tribe over truth’ is not in the Bible.”