Former President Donald Trump responded to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s brief speech Thursday by calling for the “immediate release” of the warrant documents that were used by the FBI to raid his Mar-a-Lago home on Monday.
However, his attorney revealed that she’s been trying to get in touch with the Justice Department to get the ball rolling on unsealing the documents but has thus far been unsuccessful for reasons that remain unclear.
“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, even though they have been drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful vested interest in attacking me, much as they have done for the last 6 years,” the former president wrote on Truth Social.
The post was published at 11:29 pm Thursday evening.
In an additional post published at 12:43 am Friday morning, the former president pithily added, “Release the Documents Now!”
By the time he published the posts, the process of unsealing the documents had already begun.
During his speech earlier Thursday, AG Garland said that the Justice Department had filed a court motion asking that the documents be unsealed.
“Just now, the Justice Department has filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating to a court-approved search that the FBI conducted earlier this week,” he said.
He also confirmed that the former president’s attorneys had their own copy of both.
“Copies of both the warrant and the FBI property receipt were provided on the day of the search to the former President’s counsel, who was on site during the search,” he said.
Merrick Garland says the DOJ has filed a motion to unseal the warrant for the Mar-a-Lago search pic.twitter.com/pxYceebw3e
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 11, 2022
Hours later, federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart responded by signing an order calling for Trump to offer his own official permission for the documents to be released.
“The United States shall immediately serve a copy of its Motion on counsel for former President Trump. On or before 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on August 12, 2022, the United States shall file a certificate of conferral advising whether former President Trump opposes the Government’s motion to unseal,” the judge wrote, according to Law & Crime.
All that remains now is for Trump’s attorneys to file an official motion conferring the former president’s permission.
Speaking on NewsNation later Thursday evening, the former president’s personal attorney, Christina Bobb, confirmed that his official permission will be granted, assuming the Justice Department ever gets back to her.
“It doesn’t appear at this time like we would object, but the court has ordered the Department of Justice to coordinate with us and to work on how that release would take place, and what that would look like. Our team has responded. We have reached out to the Department of Justice to coordinate that and have not been able to make contact,” she said.
“So, we’re waiting to hear back from them and we’re very eager. We know that people want information and we’re eager to respond as best as possible in coordination with the Department of Justice. So, we’re just waiting to hear back from them.”
Listen:
NewsNation host Leland Vittert pushed back by asking why Trump hasn’t just released the documents himself, given as he reportedly has his own copy of them.
“You guys have a copy of the warrant, and you’re given a receipt at the end of an FBI search warrant. Why wouldn’t you just release that yourselves?” Vittert asked.
“Well, this is part of the discussion with the Department of Justice. Of course, we’re trying to do everything in accordance with the law …,” Bobb replied before being cut off.
“There’s absolutely nothing preventing you guys from releasing it, though,” Vittert said.
“Other than decorum. I mean, we’re trying to work well with the Department of Justice. We’ve been cooperative this entire time, and we’d like to remain cooperative. And we have reached out to them and are waiting to hear back,” Bobb replied.
In other words, Trump and his team are trying to abide by the law — which, it turns out, is what they’ve been doing all along.
“Two months before his Florida home was raided by the FBI, former President Donald Trump secretly received a grand jury subpoena for classified documents belonging to the National Archives, and voluntarily cooperated by turning over responsive evidence, surrendering security surveillance footage and allowing federal agents and a senior Justice Department lawyer to tour his private storage locker, according to a half dozen people familiar with the incident,” according to Just The News.
“While the cooperation was mostly arranged by his lawyers, Trump personally surprised the DOJ National Security Division prosecutor and three FBI agents who came to his Mar-a-Lago compound on June 3, greeting them as they came to pick up a small number of documents compliant with the subpoena, the sources told Just the News, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the visit was covered by grand jury secrecy.”
It’s not yet clear why, after this voluntary submission to the feds’ authority, Trump’s home was nevertheless raided …
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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