Garland also said he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.”
He noted that the department did not comment on the search the day it occurred. He noted that the search was confirmed by Trump that evening. He said copies of the warrant and the warrant receipt were provided to Trump’s lawyers who were on site during the search.
“The Department filed the motion to make the order and receipt public in light of the former president’s public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances, and the substantial public interest in this matter,” Garland said. “Faithful adherence to the rule of law is a fundamental principle of the Department of Justice and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law uniformly without fear or favor. Under my watch, that is precisely what the Department of Justice is doing.”
The statement comes after days of silence from the Justice Department regarding the search, as is the department’s standard practice for ongoing investigations. Garland stressed that some of the department’s work needs to happen out of public view.
“We do this to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations,” he said, explaining that he would not elaborate on the basis of the search.
Trump and his legal team have not yet made a decision on how to respond to the Justice Department’s motion to unseal the order, a source familiar with their thinking told CNN.
In a pair of posts on Truth Social after Garland’s statement, Trump went on to say that his lawyers were “fully cooperating” and had developed “very good relationships” with federal investigators before Monday’s search of Mar-a – Lake
“The government could have had whatever it wanted, if we had it,” Trump said. “Everything was going well, better than most previous presidents, and then out of nowhere and without warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided, at 6:30 in the morning, by a large number of agents , and even ‘safeccrackers.'”
The court has ordered the Justice Department to consult with Trump about his request to seal certain documents from the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search warrant and to tell the court by Friday at 3 p.m.: 00 ET if he objects to his release.
Trump’s team has contacted outside lawyers about how to proceed. Among the options they are considering is challenging the Justice Department’s motion to unstick the order, says a source familiar with the discussion.
Trump’s orbit was caught off guard by Garland’s announcement.
The Department of Justice is asking the courts to hand over documents
The FBI executed a search warrant at the Palm Beach, Florida compound on Monday as part of an investigation into the handling of presidential documents, including classified documents, that may have been taken there.
Newly filed court documents outline what the Justice Department officially moved to do on Thursday.
“On August 8, 2022, the Department of Justice executed a search warrant, issued by this Court after the requisite determination of probable cause… at the premises located at 1100 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach, Florida 33480, an estate of former President Donald J. Trump,” the motion says.
“At the time the initial warrant was executed, the Department directly notified former President Trump’s counsel. The Department made no public statements about the search, and the search apparently attracted little or public attention at all while it was being carried out.” That same day, former President Trump issued a public statement acknowledging the execution of the order. In the days since, the search warrant and related materials have been the subject of significant interest and attention from the media and other entities,” the Department of Justice reported. writes.
The DOJ then argues to unseal the search warrant, citing “the intense public interest presented in the search of a former president’s residence.”
The file confirms that the search warrant was “signed and approved by the Court on August 5.” On Thursday, the DOJ submitted “the redacted receipt of property listing the items seized as a result of the search,” according to its motion to unseal.
“Former President Trump, through his attorney, received copies of each of these documents on August 8, 2022, as part of the execution of the search,” the filing added.
Earlier this year, National Archives officials arranged to retrieve 15 boxes of presidential documents from Mar-a-Lago. In June, federal investigators served a grand jury subpoena and took sensitive national security documents.
Then, according to sources, prosecutors developed evidence that the property contained potentially classified documents with national security implications.
FBI officials under attack
Republican lawmakers have attacked the department, calling the search politically motivated. Several right-wing lawmakers have called for greater oversight of the department, and some have even suggested defunding the FBI or that agents planted evidence at the Florida estate.
Violent threats have also erupted online since the search. The posters have written things like “Garland needs to be killed” and “kill all the feds.” The biography and contact information of a federal judge who appears to have signed the search warrant used to search Mar-a-Lago has been removed from a Florida court website after he also became the target of violent threats.
In a message reviewed by CNN Thursday moments before the public statement, FBI Director Chris Wray told bureau employees that their “safety and security” was his “primary concern at this time.” .
“There has been a lot of commentary about the FBI this week questioning our work and our motives,” Wray said. “Much of it comes from outside critics and experts who don’t know what we know and don’t see what we see. What I know—and what I see—is an organization made up of men and women committed to doing their jobs professionally and according the book every day – this week is no exception.”
In his public comments, Garland also denounced the “baseless attacks on the professionalism of FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors.”
“I will not remain silent when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and the Department of Justice are dedicated, patriotic public servants,” he said. “Every day, they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their security while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to serve at beside them”.
This story and headline have been updated with additional updates.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Gabby Orr contributed to this report.