Trump demands release of search warrant documents used in raid

Trump demands release of search warrant documents used in raid

donald trump

3 minutes

today at 10:37

DOJ asked the judge to release the warrant and FBI receipts. AG Garland said it ‘personally approved’ to seek warrant

Former President Donald Trump backed the release of documents related to the FBI’s raid on his Mar-a-Lago home earlier this week, including a copy of the search warrant and receipts for items removed from the property by investigators. said to do.

Trump made the announcement late Thursday on his social media site Truth Social after the Justice Department demanded the opening of the documents in a Florida court.

“Not only do I not oppose, but I encourage the release of documents related to the un-American, unjust and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida. We’re going one step further…immediate release of those documents,” Trump said in the post.

Trump’s decision to agree to release the search warrant was one he had had the option to do himself since the investigation took place Monday, and was between the former president’s legal team and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Ahead of the public confrontation.

The Justice Department has a longstanding policy against speaking publicly about pending investigations, but Garland took the unusual step on Thursday to announce that he had “personally approved.”

Federal investigators have searched Trump’s Florida mansion to determine whether he illegally kept records of the president that were supposed to be kept in the National Archives after he left office, according to people familiar with the matter. investigated.

On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that one of the categories of documents the FBI is looking for relates to nuclear weapons. It was not clear whether they were about US weapons or those belonging to other countries, and whether they were included in the documents seized by agents.

Mishandling classified information can result in a range of federal felony charges, and information relating to nuclear weapons and technology is particularly sensitive. Jay Bratt, head of the Department of Justice’s counterintelligence and export control division, signed a government filing seeking the opening of the warrant and reportedly visited Mara-a-Lago earlier this summer. , confirmed documents in Trump’s possession.

In seeking to release the search warrant document to the public, DOJ officials explained that they believed there was no longer a typical reason to keep this information sealed. DOJ attorneys said the search was in the past and that Trump and his supporters have released information about it.

“The public’s clear and strong interest in understanding what happened under these circumstances strongly supports breaking the seal,” the Justice Department said in a filing.

24 hour deadline

To conduct a search in Mar-a-Lago, prosecutors had to submit an application for approval to a federal magistrate. Judges must ensure that the government has presented sufficient information that an investigation may find evidence related to criminal activity. It does not mean that the judge found evidence that a particular person committed a crime.

The Justice Department specifically asked U.S. Magistrate Bruce Reinhart in West Palm Beach, Fla., to open a copy of the search warrant under investigation — and list the items FBI agents removed from the property. and left the receipt. The release of these documents does not include copies of affidavits that prosecutors typically present with a more complete description of the potential criminal activity at issue.

Reinhardt acted quickly, consulting with Trump and his attorneys, and immediately ordered the Justice Department to notify the court within 24 hours of whether Trump would oppose the request.

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