The FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago is easily the biggest story in August, perhaps for the year. Republicans and conservatives have voiced immense outrage, demanding accountability for the act. Tuesday night, Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R-32) spoke with The First's Jesse Kelly of "severing ties" with the Dept. of Justice.
Essentially, this means that state and local law enforcement should be barred from cooperating with Federal law enforcement such as Capitol police, the FBI, and the DOJ in general. "Counties, cities, sheriffs, the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, any agency whatsoever, should not be allowed to recognize them, work with them, make any kind of inter-local agreements."
Additionally, if any of these agencies wish to execute a warrant, they must ask the state's executive office for permission. If denied, yet continue anyway, the agents should be treated as trespassers. Furthermore, Sabatini bases his reasoning on the Tenth Amendment, saying his proposal is "reviving it, bringing it back to life."
This is basically a more detailed version of the tweet Sabatini posted Monday night:
It’s time for us in the Florida Legislature to call an emergency legislative session & amend our laws regarding federal agencies
Sever all ties with DOJ immediately
Any FBI agent conducting law enforcement functions outside the purview of our State should be arrested upon sight
— Rep. Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) August 9, 2022
"It’s time for us in the Florida Legislature to call an emergency legislative session & amend our laws regarding federal agencies Sever all ties with DOJ immediately Any FBI agent conducting law enforcement functions outside the purview of our State should be arrested upon sight," the tweet says.
Sabatini cites the medical marijuana issue as an example. "The blue states said, 'forget federal law, we're just going to do our own thing.'" He then states that red states must do likewise, especially because the FBI is a "lawless, partisan agency that bears no resemblance to what the FBI was decades ago."
He then states that hearings should follow only after the FBI and DOJ have been defunded. "You cut them, you gut them, you fire all of these long-term swamp creatures employees that have been there for a long time, then you hold the hearings afterwards." Finally, Sabatini says that if a federal law enforcement agency should exist, they should come from red state prosecutors, not Washington D.C.
The clip was retweeted by Sabatini later that evening here:
THIS. This is what we need to do in the face of the FBI's corruption.
It's time for local & state governments to assert their sovereignty, @AnthonySabatini tells @JesseKellyDC.
"They are a lawless, partisan agency that bears no resemblance to what the FBI was decades ago...." pic.twitter.com/HuU1ExGEFR
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) August 10, 2022
"THIS. This is what we need to do in the face of the FBI's corruption. It's time for local & state governments to assert their sovereignty, @AnthonySabatini tells @JesseKellyDC. "They are a lawless, partisan agency that bears no resemblance to what the FBI was decades ago...."" reads The First's original tweet.
