AG Merrick Garland: Justice Department files motion to unseal Mar-a-Lago search warrant
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday the Justice Department had filed a motion to unseal the search warrant and property receipt from a search FBI agents conducted Monday at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida
“I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter,” he said Thursday, the first time he has spoken publicly since the search.
On Monday, agents searched Trump’s residence and his safe in what sources familiar with the matter have told USA TODAY is an investigation related to Trump’s removal of classified documents from the White House when he left office.
Trump has denounced that investigation. The latest action prompted Trump to make accusations of a “witch hunt” in all levels of government, including the bureau itself. However, FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump while he was president.
Related:The Mar-a-Lago search warrant has become a hot topic for speculation. Here’s what we really know
Republicans have said the search was politically motivated, and Wray has responded to threats against the department since the search.
Since 2021, Trump has faced legal scrutiny in at least five independent federal and state inquiries that are both criminal and civil in nature. At least two investigations involve the 2020 election. A bipartisan House committee is digging into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. New York’s attorney general is investigating the Trump Organization’s business practices. And a federal inquiry into presidential records is ongoing, and appears to have prompted a search by the FBI at his Florida estate.
Donald Trump knows what FBI agents took from Mar-a-Lago and why they took it, experts say