Former President Donald Trump has stated that he would not oppose the release of documents pertaining to Monday’s search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents.
In a message posted on his Truth Social media platform on Thursday, Trump slammed the FBI raid and break-in at his Mar-a-Lago home as “unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary.”
He added that apart from not opposing the unsealing of a search warrant for an FBI raid on the Mar-a-Lago residence, he was “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 remarks came after US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who also heads the US Department of Justice (DOJ), told reporters that the DOJ had filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal the search warrant and property receipt used in the Monday raid. He added that he could give no further information on the matter.
In the Thursday filing, the DOJ argued that the warrant should be unsealed because of “significant interest and attention from news media organizations and other entities” following Trump’s own voluntary release of information confirming the search.
Garland, for his part, confirmed he personally approved the search warrant, adding that the DOJ “does not take such decisions lightly.”
In the hours that followed the Monday raid, reports revealed the search was focused on documents Trump had taken from the White House at the end of his term, rather than surrendering them to the US National Archives in line with the Presidential Records Act.
Among the documents that Trump reportedly took with him when he left the White House were correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, praised by the ex-POTUS as “beautiful letters,” and a handwritten letter that former US President Barack Obama left behind in the Oval Office for his successor.
The reports came after Trump revealed on Truth Social that his Mar-a-Lago home had been raided by FBI agents who even “broke” into his safe, and that “nothing like this has ever happened to a president of the United States before.”
“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” Trump added, dubbing the FBI’s actions “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.”
While the White House denied prior knowledge of the raid and declined to comment on the ongoing case, Republicans, including GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, pledged to get revenge on the FBI if they take back Congress in November in response to the “rogue behavior” of the agency.
“I've seen enough. The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization. When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned. Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar,” McCarthy tweeted.
A Trafalgar Group poll has, meanwhile, indicated that over three-quarters of GOP members believe that the political enemies of Trump are behind the FBI’s raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence.
While less than half (47.9%) of respondents overall believe that the Monday raid is work of Trump’s political opponents, 76.6% of Republican respondents in particular said that they hold such a belief, according to the poll.
Moreover, the raid increased the motivation of 83.3% of Republicans to vote in the 2022 midterm election this fall, the poll revealed.