Trump calls for 'immediate release' of Mar-a-Lago search warrant
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Former President Donald Trump called for the “immediate release” of the warrant that led the FBI to his Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this week, as it was reported that agents sought classified documents related to nuclear weapons among other records in the search.
Trump chimed in late Thursday on his Truth Social online platform, hours after Attorney General Merrick Garland had already asked a federal judge to unseal the warrant.
“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,” Trump wrote in part, going on to claim that the search was a politically-motivated move by “radical left Democrats.”
As a copy of the warrant was issued at the time of the search, Trump may make it public without waiting for the court.
FBI agents descended on the estate Monday, to the consternation of the former president. While neither Trump nor the FBI has gone into specifics about what was being sought in the search, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the investigation, that agents were in search of classified documents, some of which are related to nuclear weapons. It was not clear whether those specific documents were ultimately recovered, but sources have said that agents did locate top-secret White House information previously subpoenaed for return to the federal government.
The Mar-a-Lago search was part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation undertaken at the request of the National Archives after it recovered 15 boxes of records, some of them classified, from the estate earlier this year, according to the Associated Press.
A judge has given the federal Department of Justice until Friday afternoon to disclose any formal objections Trump or his lawyers may have to the release of the warrant.
Trump has repeatedly characterized the search as politically-motivated, a stance that could serve to galvanize his conservative base ahead of a potential White House comeback bid in 2024.
The search unfolded as Trump faces ongoing battles on other fronts, including a probe by a House of Representatives committee into the deadly January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and a New York State civil investigation over his business dealings that saw him invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on Wednesday.