The US Justice Department asked a judge on Thursday to make public the warrant authorizing an FBI search of Donald Trump’s Florida home, after the former president attacked the search as an act of retribution politics.
Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed Thursday that federal agents had searched Donald Trump’s Florida estate amid an investigation that sources say is focused on whether the former president illegally removed White House records when he left office.
Garland, the nation’s top law enforcement official, said he had personally approved the decision to order the search.
His confirmation was very unusual. US law enforcement typically does not discuss ongoing investigations. But it came after Trump himself announced the search on Monday night, claiming it was an act of political payback by Democratic President Joe Biden.
Garland said the Justice Department had asked a court to issue a sealed search warrant “in light of the former president’s public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances and the substantial public interest in this matter.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke to the Justice Department on Thursday about the motion to disclose a search warrant for a raid on former President Donald Trump’s Florida home earlier this week. (Susan Walsh/The Associated Press)
It was unclear whether Trump’s legal team would oppose the release of the warrant, which could shed light on the nature of the investigation.
In a statement on his social network Truth, Trump said: “My lawyers and representatives were totally, and they had established a very good relationship. The government could have had whatever it wanted, if we had it.”
The unprecedented search marked a significant escalation in one of the many federal and state probes Trump has faced since his time in office and into private businesses.
LOOK | Trump Says Mar-a-Lago Home Attacked:
Trump says the FBI raided his Florida home
Former US President Donald Trump says the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
FBI agents visited the Trump property earlier this year to investigate boxes in a locked storage room, according to a person familiar with the visit. Agents and a Trump lawyer, Evan Corcoran, spent a day reviewing materials, the source said.
A second source briefed on the matter told Reuters the Justice Department also has surveillance footage of Mar-a-Lago in its possession.
AG, FBI threatened after Mar-a-Lago attack
The Justice Department has faced fierce criticism and online threats this week following the search. Trump supporters and some of his fellow Republicans in Washington, DC, have accused Democrats of arming the federal bureaucracy to attack Trump.
The FBI said a gunman had attempted to break into its Cincinnati office early Thursday in what it called a “critical incident.” Local law enforcement said officers exchanged gunfire with a male suspect wearing body armor.
Trump supporters rallied in support of him after the FBI operation on Monday. Some legal experts worry about the anger that could be unleashed if Trump is ever indicted. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images)
Garland condemned the attacks on FBI and Justice Department employees. “I will not remain silent when his integrity is unfairly attacked,” he said.
Some Democrats, meanwhile, have criticized Garland for being too cautious in investigating Trump for his attempts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden.
Republican reaction to Garland was divided between those ready to attack the attorney general and the FBI over the Trump investigation and others who warned against rhetoric that could undermine federal law enforcement.
“I was embarrassed to hear members of my party attack the integrity of FBI agents,” Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chairwoman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol United by Trump supporters. , he wrote on Twitter.
“These are sick comments that put the lives of patriotic public servants at risk.”