Washington: US court officials were prepared to release a sealed warrant on Friday, detailing the historic search of Donald Trump’s Florida resort, which prompted to the former president and his allies to accuse the government of political persecution.
Even though he has had a copy of the search warrant for days and could have published its contents earlier, 76-year-old Trump backed its release.
One report claimed that some of the files Trump may have removed from the White House connected to nuclear weapons, and it was assumed that this was the focus of the search on Monday.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, the nation’s top law enforcement official, announced the highly rare decision to unseal the search warrant and the receipt specifying the goods confiscated by FBI agents. He claimed to have “personally approved” the dramatic raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Largo resort estate.
The former Republican president and his legal counsel have until Friday at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) to decide whether to contest Garland’s court request. Trump, though, said he was actively pushing making them public in nocturnal social media posts.
“Release the documents now!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform, as he slammed the raid on his home as a “political weaponization of law enforcement.”
Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department official, said Garland had “called Trump’s bluff” by putting the onus on the former president to object or consent to release of the document.
The Justice Department motion to unseal the warrant noted — and did not dispute — statements by Trump’s representatives that the FBI was seeking presidential records and potential classified material.
According to US media, the search related to potential mishandling of classified documents taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House in January 2021.
The Washington Post on Thursday cited anonymous sources close to the investigation as saying classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the papers sought by FBI agents during the raid.
Trump himself appeared to deny the claim, posting that the “nuclear weapons issue is a hoax” and suggesting the Federal Bureau of Investigation might have been “planting information” at his home.
Political firestorm
The FBI raid sparked a political firestorm in an already bitterly divided country, and comes as Trump weighs another White House run in 2024.
In a statement on Thursday Trump said his attorneys had been “cooperating fully” and “the government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it.”
Leading Republicans have rallied around Trump, and some members of his party have harshly denounced the Justice Department and FBI, accusing them of partisanship in targeting the ex-president.
Garland criticized what he called “unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors.”
In the hours before Garland’s remarks, an armed man tried to storm an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio in an attack that appeared to be a direct response to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
The assailant, shot dead by police after exchanges of gunfire and an hours-long standoff, was identified as Ricky Shiffer.
The New York Times said a person posting on Truth Social under that name wrote “I tried attacking the FBI,” and said he hoped his actions would serve as a “call to arms.”
The Justice Department typically does not confirm or deny whether it is investigating someone, and Garland took pains to emphasize the law was being applied fairly to Trump.
“Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy,” he said. “The rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor.”
In addition to investigations into his business practices, Trump faces legal scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the results of the election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
According to the New York Times, a user posting under that account on Truth Social remarked, “I attempted attacking the FBI,” and expressed his desire for his acts to act as a “call to arms.”
Garland made a point to stress that the law was being applied equitably to Trump. Normally, the Justice Department does not confirm or deny whether it is investigating someone.
The Justice Department and our democracy are founded on the concept of faithful obedience to the law, he declared. “The rule of law” is the fair and impartial application of the law.
Trump is being investigated for his business operations as well as for trying to rig the election results and the attack on the White House on January 6, 2021.
