Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that the Justice Department requested permission from the federal court to unseal the court-approved search warrant that authorized its raid on former President Donald Trump‘s home in Mar-a-Lago.
“This matter plainly ‘concerns public officials or public concerns’ … as it involves a law enforcement action taken at the property of the 45th President of the United States,” the DOJ said in the filing. “The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing.”
GARLAND PERSONALLY APPROVED TRUMP MAR-A-LAGO FBI SEARCH WARRANT
“The government hereby requests that the Court unseal the Notice of Filing and its attachment absent objection by former President Trump,” the DOJ said.
The DOJ requested to unseal the search warrant approved by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart on Aug. 5, as well as two attachments included in the warrant. Authorities also requested a redacted property receipt listing items the FBI seized from Trump’s Florida home on Monday.
The DOJ highlighted in the filing that Trump, through his legal counsel, was provided a copy of those documents when it executed its search on Monday.
“At the time the warrant was initially executed, the Department provided notice directly to former President Trump’s counsel,” the DOJ said in the filing. “The Department did not make any public statements about the search, and the search apparently attracted little or no public attention as it was taking place.”
DOJ ORDERED TO RESPOND TO REQUESTS TO UNSEAL TRUMP SEARCH WARRANT
“Later that same day, former President Trump issued a public statement acknowledging the execution of the warrant. In the days since, the search warrant and related materials have been the subject of significant interest and attention from news media organizations and other entities,” the filing said.
Noting that the warrant was executed on Monday, the Justice Department said in its filing Thursday that unsealing the warrant and its attachments at this time would not “impair court functions.”
The Justice Department added that Trump should have the opportunity to lodge objections to its request to unseal the warrant and its attachments with regard to any “legitimate privacy interests” and other injuries that could result from the public release of the materials.
Reinhart ordered the Justice Department on Thursday about the hour after it filed its motion to consult with Trump’s lawyers and return to the court by 3 p.m. Friday advising whether the former president opposes the motion to unseal the warrant.
A senior Justice Department official told Newsweek on Wednesday that the FBI intended to deny Trump a photo opportunity by conducting the raid of his home while the former president was away in New York.
“I know that there is much speculation out there that this is political persecution, but it is really the best and the worst of the bureaucracy in action,” the official added. “They wanted to punctuate the fact that this was a routine law enforcement action, stripped of any political overtones, and yet [they] got exactly the opposite.”
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“What a spectacular backfire,” the official said.
The FBI’s raid was reportedly related to boxes of materials Trump brought back to the Florida resort after he left office in January 2021.
The Justice Department’s motion to unseal the Mar-a-Lago search warrant was filed by United States Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez and Jay Bratt, the chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the National Security Division.
