Former US president Donald Trump has used social media to call for the “immediate” release of the federal warrant the FBI used to search his Florida estate.
Key points:
- Donald Trump used his Truth Social platform to call for the release of the warrant used by the FBI to search his home
- He has been provided at least some of the documents in question, but has declined so far to make them public
- To obtain a warrant, authorities must prove to a judge that probable cause exists to believe a crime was committed
It came hours after the Justice Department had asked a court to unseal the warrant, with Attorney-General Merrick Garland citing the “substantial public interest in this matter”.
In messages posted on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump wrote, “Not only will I not oppose the release of documents … I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents”.
He continued to assail the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago as “unAmerican, unwarranted and unnecessary”.
“Release the documents now!” he wrote.
Mr Trump has been provided at least some of the records the government was seeking to unseal, but he and his lawyers have declined, so far, to make them public.
The decision on whether or not to unseal the records lies with US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the same judge who signed off on the search warrant.
The department had until Friday afternoon to tell the judge whether Mr Trump’s lawyers agree or disagree with their proposal to make the warrant public.
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The department’s request is striking because such documents traditionally remain sealed during a pending investigation.
But the department appeared to recognise that its silence since the search had created a vacuum for bitter verbal attacks by Mr Trump and his allies, and that the public was entitled to hear the FBI’s side about what prompted Monday’s action at the former president’s home.
“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing,” said a motion filed in federal court in Florida on Thursday.
Should the warrant be released, it could disclose unflattering information about Mr Trump and about FBI scrutiny of his handling of sensitive government documents right as he prepares for another run for the White House.
During his successful 2016 campaign, he pointed frequently to an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information.
It is unclear at this point how much information would be included in the documents, if made public, or if they would encompass an FBI affidavit that would presumably lay out a detailed factual basis for the search.
The department specifically requested the unsealing of the warrant as well as a property receipt listing the items that were seized, along with two unspecified attachments.
Warrants require probable cause
To obtain a search warrant, federal authorities must prove to a judge that probable cause exists to believe a crime was committed.
Mr Garland said he personally approved the warrant, a decision he said the department did not take lightly given standard practice where possible is to select less intrusive tactics than a search of one’s home.
In this case, according to a person familiar with the matter, there was substantial engagement with Mr Trump and his representatives prior to the search warrant, including a subpoena for records and a visit to Mar-a-Lago a couple of months ago by FBI and Justice Department officials to assess how the documents were stored.
The person was not authorised to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Neither Mr Trump nor the FBI has said anything about what documents the FBI might have recovered, or what precisely agents were looking for.
Mr Trump, who for years has lambasted the FBI and sought to sow distrust among his supporters in its decisions, said the warrant was served and the search conducted despite his cooperation with the Justice Department over the search.
In a post to his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said his “attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully” before the search, and that government officials “could have had whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, if we had it”.
FBI and Justice Department policy cautions against discussing ongoing investigations, both to protect the integrity of the inquiries and to avoid unfairly maligning someone who is being scrutinised but winds up ultimately not being charged.
That’s especially true in the case of search warrants, where supporting court papers are routinely kept secret as the investigation proceeds.
In this case, though, Mr Garland cited the fact that Mr Trump himself had provided the first public confirmation of the FBI search, “as is his right”.
The Justice Department, in its new filing, also said that disclosing information about it now would not harm the court’s functions.
Even so, Mr Garland, in a hastily scheduled public statement delivered at the Justice Department, appeared to acknowledge the unusual nature of the department’s request as he declined to take questions or provide any substantive details about the FBI’s investigation.
“Much of our work is by necessity conducted out of the public eye. We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations,” he said.
“Federal law, longstanding department rules and our ethical obligations prevent me from providing further details as to the basis of the search at this time.”
AP