In his first public statement three days after federal agents stormed Mar-a-Lago, the home of former President Donald Trump in South Florida, Attorney General Merrick Garland went public to say two basic things. : that he authorized the search warrant, ratified by a West Palm Beach federal judge, and that he asked another to disclose the content of the search warrant in which he hopes to find the reasons and the object of the searches, presumably confidential documents taken out by the former president of the White House.
Garland also noted that the Department did not comment on the incident on the day it occurred, but that it was confirmed by Trump that same night. He said copies of the order and receipt were provided to the former president’s attorneys, who were on site at the time.
“The Department [de Justicia] He filed the motion to make the order and receipt public as public confirmation of the record, the circumstances, and the substantial public interest in this matter,” Garland said.
Furthermore, “faithful adherence to the rule of law is the fundamental principle of the Department of Justice and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law uniformly without fear or favoritism. Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing.”
The statement comes after days of silence from the Department, and protests from Republican sectors. Trump and his allies argued without evidence that it was a politically motivated attack. Failure to comment is the Department’s normal practice in ongoing investigations.
Garland emphasized that some of the Department’s work must be done out of public view. “We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations,” she said, declining to answer questions from reporters and saying he would not elaborate.
On the other hand, the Department of Justice asked a federal judge to disclose the contents of the search warrant.
The FBI executed the warrant Monday morning as part of an investigation into Trump’s handling of presidential documents, including classified documents, following a confidential informant’s whistle.
“On August 8, 2022, the Department of Justice executed a search warrant, issued upon the required determination of ‘probable cause,’ at the facility located at 1100 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach, Florida 33480, a property of the former President Donald J. Trump,” the motion says.
“At the time the order was executed, the Department directly notified former President Trump’s attorney. The Department made no public statement about the search, which apparently drew little or no public attention while it was taking place.
Later that same day, former President Trump issued a statement acknowledging the execution of the order. In subsequent days, the search warrant and related materials have been the subject of great public and partisan interest, for which its content must be revealed, according to the federal entity.
