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The search warrant authorizing the FBI‘s raid at Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago residence was unsealed Friday with the former president’s backing, providing new insight on a search that has enraged Trump’s allies.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced at a briefing Thursday that he had asked a federal judge to unseal the warrant “in light of the former president’s public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances and the substantial public interest in this matter.” He also confirmed that Trump’s counsel had already received copies of both the warrant and property receipt, which would show what the FBI agents took from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump had until 3 p.m. ET on Friday to oppose the motion, but he signaled in a post on his Truth Social platform late Thursday that he would not do so.
“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…” he wrote.
Read the full text of the warrant below:
Giorgia Viera/AFP via Getty Images
Trump initially confirmed the raid in a Truth Social post late Monday, alleging that it was due to “prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”
“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,” the statement read. “After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.”
Trump’s lawyer, Christina Bobb, told CNBC on Tuesday that the FBI seized about a dozen boxes at Mar-a-Lago. In February, the National Archives revealed that it had arranged for the transport of presidential records from the residence that had not been rightly transferred at the end of Trump’s administration.
Garland said during the briefing Thursday that he personally approved of the decision to seek the search warrant and that it was a decision not taken lightly by the Justice Department.
Still, Trump’s allies have sharply condemned the move. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted a statement on Monday saying that the Justice Department “has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”
A poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group and Convention of States Action in the wake of the raid found that more than 80 percent of Republican respondents said it made them more motivated to vote in the 2022 election.
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