The nuclear factor in Trump raid
Former US President says unseal warrant documents now
Donald Trump has urged the FBI to “release the documents now” that relate to the raid on his Florida home, amid reports officials feared he had retained classified material relating to nuclear weapons.
Yesterday United States Attorney General Merrick Garland asked a court to unseal the search warrant due to the “substantial public interest in this matter”.
In a statement released several hours later, Trump said he would not stand in the way.
“Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the un-American, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mara-Lago, I am going a step further by encouraging the immediate release of those documents,” said the former US President.
“This unprecedented political weaponisation of law enforcement is inappropriate and highly unethical.
“The world is watching as our country is being brought to a new low, not only on our border, crime, economy, energy, national security, and so much more but also with respect to our sacred elections! “Release the documents now!” Yesterday the US press reported that the FBI was looking for classified documents relating to nuclear weapons when it raided Mar-a-Lago.
The Washington Post reported that the dramatic search reflected “deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club”.
There was no confirmation that such documents were found or located in the FBI raid this week which is believed to have seized 10 to
15 boxes of material, in addition to the
15 boxes previously returned to the Government by Trump in January.
The law enforcement sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, did not say whether the classified documents in question involved information about nuclear weapons belonging to the United States or some other nation.
Earlier yesterday, Garland revealed that he personally authorised the decision to seek court permission for a search warrant.
“The Justice Department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken,” he said.
He now wants elements of the search warrant unsealed so the public can understand the reasons for the raid. Garland noted that agents had tried to conduct the search without drawing significant public attention, but Trump himself had made it public.
“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favour of unsealing,” the Justice Department’s motion to unseal the warrant says.
“That said, the former President should have an opportunity to respond to this motion and lodge objections, including with regard to any ‘legitimate privacy interests’ or the potential for other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public.”
Should the warrant be released — the request is now with the judge — it could disclose unflattering information about the former President and about FBI scrutiny of his handling of sensitive government documents right as he prepares for another run for the White House. During his successful 2016 campaign, he pointed frequently to an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information.
It’s unclear at this point how much information would be included in the documents, if made public, or if they would encompass an FBI affidavit that would presumably lay out a detailed factual basis for the search. The department specifically requested the unsealing of the warrant as well as a property receipt listing the items that were seized, along with two unspecified attachments.
To obtain a search warrant, federal authorities must prove to a judge that probable cause exists to believe that a crime was committed. Garland said he personally approved the warrant, a decision he said the department did not take lightly given that standard practice where possible is to select less intrusive tactics than a search of one’s home.
In this case, according to a person familiar with the matter, there was substantial engagement with Trump and his representatives prior to the search warrant, including a subpoena for records and a visit to Mar-a-Lago a couple of months ago by FBI and Justice Department officials to assess how the documents were stored.
Neither Trump nor the FBI has said anything about what documents the FBI might have recovered, or the reports that they were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons.
But the former President complained anew yesterday about the search.
Trump, who for years has lambasted the FBI and sought to sow distrust among his supporters in its decisions, said the warrant was served and the search conducted despite his co-operation with the Justice Department over the search.
The Justice Department has until today to alert the judge about whether Trump will object to the release.
The Justice Department under Garland has been wary of public statements about politically charged investigations, or of confirming to what extent it might be investigating Trump as part of a broader probe into the January 6 riot at the US Capitol and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The department has tried to avoid being seen as injecting itself into presidential politics, as happened in 2016 when then-FBI director James Comey made an unusual public statement announcing that the FBI would not be recommending criminal charges against Clinton regarding her handling of email — and when he spoke up again just over a week before the election to notify Congress that the probe was being effectively reopened because of the discovery of new emails.
The Mar-a-Lago search warrant served Tuesday was part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records recovered from Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this year. The National Archives had asked the department to investigate after saying 15 boxes of records it retrieved from the estate included classified records.
The world is watching as our country is being brought to a new low. Donald Trump