Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker slammed Attorney General Merrick Garland Friday on "Fox & Friends," saying the Justice Department created a "complete firestorm" by raiding Mar-a-Lago to seize classified documents from former President Trump.

TRUMP FBI RAID: GARLAND SAYS HE APPROVED MAR-A-LAGO SEARCH, DOJ MOVES TO UNSEAL WARRANT

MATT WHITAKER: This has caused a complete firestorm they should have anticipated. And it does demonstrate how insulated the fifth floor of the Department of Justice is. Merrick Garland said one thing that I just disagree with, and he said obviously DOJ policy is they need to use the least intrusive means for obtaining this evidence. In this case, they went in with dozens of agents to execute a search warrant. And there had to be a way to not cause this firestorm. They didn't want to do it. They wanted this attention. … There were so many other ways to get this information, either to continue to negotiate, they could have turned up the heat with a second subpoena. … They just took this step and they crossed a line that they intentionally did. And they knew that it was going to cause this firestorm. And now they have it.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW:

Former AG Whitaker calls out Merrick Garland: They wanted to cause 'firestorm' with Trump raid

Whitaker pushes back on DOJ claims that FBI raid was necessary to retrieve classified materials