The Justice Department and FBI must provide details on the alleged national security basis for the raid at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and hand over information on possible informants, the leader of House Intelligence Committee Republicans charged Friday.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) has spent the week pushing FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland for answers on the unprecedented raid. Wray has declined to answer questions on the matter, while Garland said Thursday in a short public statement he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.”
“We are also very concerned about the disturbing reports that there was an informant, perhaps even somebody undercover at Mar-a-Lago or around former President Donald Trump,” Turner said during a Friday press conference with Republican members of the Intelligence Committee. “And today, we are also sending a letter to Director Wray demanding that he disclose to us the process by which that informant was utilized or that informant was placed — what is the relationship between the FBI and the person who has reportedly been utilizing this process?”
FBI FOUND SEVERAL CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS IN TRUMP MAR-A-LAGO RAID: REPORT
It was first reported by Newsweek that “the raid on Mar-a-Lago was based largely on information from an FBI confidential human source, one who was able to identify what classified documents former President Trump was still hiding and even the location of those documents,” according to “two senior government officials.”
The Wall Street Journal followed up by saying that, in the weeks following a June visit to Mar-a-Lago by a senior DOJ national security supervisor and three bureau agents, “someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club,” according to “people familiar with the matter.”
Those reports remain unconfirmed.
The Monday search by the FBI was reportedly related to boxes of materials Trump brought back with him to his Florida resort after leaving office. The National Archives and Records Administration said some presidential records in 15 boxes obtained from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year included materials marked as classified.
Garland announced Thursday the Justice Department requested permission from the federal court to unseal the court-approved search warrant that authorized its raid. Authorities also requested a redacted property receipt listing items the FBI seized. Trump said he would not oppose the release of the warrant.
“They will be releasing, apparently, the warrant and the inventory, but it will still leave many unanswered questions. That’s why our request remains that the director of the FBI and the attorney general disclose to this committee the imminent national security threat on which they based their decision to order a raid on the president’s home,” Turner said Friday.
He said Republicans have also demanded the FBI’s underlying affidavit justifying the warrant request be handed over to the committee.
Turner called on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to support GOP calls for information on the raid and that those calls be backed up by an intelligence committee subpoena if the details aren’t handed over.
“We requested that they disclose to our committee the national security basis upon which they have ordered this raid,” Turner said. “Because many other options were available to them, we are very concerned about the method that was used in raiding Mar-a-Lago and the nine hours that transpired while they were in the former president’s home.”
GARLAND PERSONALLY APPROVED MAR-A-LAGO RAID
Trump called the raid “a surprise attack,” saying, “And all the while our Country is going to HELL!” in a post on his Truth Social account on Wednesday.
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Turner quipped that “Donald Trump has more classified information in his head than he does in his desk” when explaining the reasons for being skeptical of the raid’s necessity. And he noted that Garland had ordered the raid on “President Biden’s political rival.”
