Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed Thursday he personally authorized the FBI’s Monday raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home, contrary to previous reporting on the subject.
“I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant,” Garland said during his brief Thursday press conference on the matter. He did not take any questions after speaking.
GARLAND: “I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant…”
Well folks, there it is. pic.twitter.com/v5pQ0JpXEU
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 11, 2022
FBI agents executed a search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property early Monday morning to seize documents related to files Trump had taken after he left office belonging to the National Archives.
Garland’s claims run counter to reporting by Newsweek on Tuesday, in which a senior Biden official told the outlet that Garland had no prior knowledge of the search, and was not asked to approve the raid. (RELATED: ‘Department Of Trust Us’: Sen. Chuck Grassley Says FBI Director Refused To Answer About The Raid)
“I know it’s hard for people to believe,” the official told the outlet. “But this was a matter for the U.S. Attorney and the FBI.”
Newsweek also reported a confidential informant had tipped the FBI off on the location of the documents.
Garland also announced Thursday that the Justice Department had just “filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating” to the raid. He vowed not to “stand by silently” amid “recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors.”
Many conservative and Republican critics called the raid an example of the weaponization and politicization of the Department of Justice.
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