In a statement late Thursday after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced it was he who approved the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property and that the Justice Department has moved to unseal the record, Trump announced he would not oppose that motion.
The former president’s legal team still has until 3 PM ET Friday to file their objections, however. Trump, in a statement on his social media platform Truth Social, blasted the Justice Department in a series of ubiquitous claims of political persecution after saying he would not oppose the release.
“Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents….” he wrote.
RELATED STORY: Washington Post: Mar-A-Lago search was about ‘classified documents relating to nuclear weapons’
Trump has the ability to publicly release any records related to the warrant in his possession. The only thing stopping him is himself or the guidance he may receive from his lawyers. Further, the FBI did not “break in” to Trump’s property in Palm Beach.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the search of Trump’s home this week was preceded by a secret grand jury subpoena for classified documents served to him this June.
A federal prosecutor and several FBI agents held a meeting at Mar-a-Lago with Trump’s attorneys on June 3 to reportedly discuss boxes of records Trump took from the White House after his term was over.
The subpoena that preempted this visit requested Trump remit any documents with classification labels as well as any other items he may have kept that should have been returned, it was first reported Thursday.
This was because when the National Archives had finally recovered 15 boxes of documents and other items Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, the agency also confirmed it had found some records inside of those boxes containing “classified national security information.”
The National Archives asked the Department of Justice to get involved thereafter and in April, the Department of Justice opened an investigation into the records.
At the June 3 meeting, Trump was not expected to be there. But according to his lawyer, Christina Bobb, he appeared abruptly, extended an offer to be cooperative, and encouraged agents to work with his legal team.
On Thursday, conservative news outlet Just the News reported that an eyewitness to the meeting said when agents asked Trump’s lawyers if they could search the basement, his attorneys obliged.
Bobb has acknowledged this to other outlets and said this week that a few days after that June 3 meeting, Jay Bratt, the FBI’s chief of counterintelligence and export control, contacted Trump’s office and asked that a layer of security—a padlock—be added to the room holding the documents.
Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran told The Wall Street Journal they obliged on the padlock, also providing the FBI with surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago that was requested under a separate subpoena sent to the Trump Organization.
In the last 24 hours, citing anonymous sources, The Wall Street Journal and NBC have both reported investigators were encouraged to search the property because of a tip from someone familiar with where documents at Mar-a-Lago were held. This source also believed there may be additional classified records on Trump’s property.
RELATED STORY: Report: A secret grand jury subpoena was served to Trump before Mar-a-Lago search
When Garland made his announcement Thursday, important to note was the choice of language he used to describe the department’s conduct.
“Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken,” Garland said.
The “standard practice” and “less intrusive means” the department would typically take would involve issuing a subpoena.
David Oddo, former state prosecutor and former president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, concurred in an email to Daily Kos on Friday.
“You start with just regular communications between the Department of Justice and the defendant’s lawyer. Usually, there is cooperation. If not, you go the subpoena route. All non-intrusive,” he said.
The current circumstances are without question historic, but Garland has emphasized repeatedly in the last year and did so again Thursday that the department aims only to speak through its court filings and will make every attempt to avoid the politicization—perceived or otherwise—of its investigations.
“The department did not make any public statements on the day of the search. The former president publicly confirmed the search that evening, as is his right. Copies of the warrant and FBI property receipt were provided on the day of the search to the former president’s counsel who was on-site during the search. The search warrant was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause. The property receipt is a document that federal law requires federal agents to leave with the property owner,” Garland said.
The department filed the motion to make the warrant and receipt public because of the “substantial public interest,” he added.
The Washington Post first reported late Thursday that the classified documents at issue contained sensitive information about nuclear weapons or systems. It is unclear if this information would be related to U.S. nuclear arms or that of another nation.
After Trump finally left the White House amid an insurrection he incited to stop the peaceful transfer of power, President Joe Biden declared that Trump would not be allowed to receive intelligence briefings per the tradition bestowed upon former presidents.
Biden said that the insurrection was not even the primary driver behind his decision. Biden told Norah O’Donnell at CBS News in February 2021 that Trump’s behavior was “erratic” long before Jan. 6.
”I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said.
He added: “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
