Justice Department Moves to Unseal Trump Search Warrant at Mar-a-Lago

Merrick Garland also confirmed that he personally approved the warrant.

Greg Nash/ZUMA

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The Department of Justice has filed a motion to unseal the search warrant executed by the FBI earlier this week at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Thursday.

In a brief press conference, Garland confirmed that he personally approved the warrant, a decision Garland said he did not treat lightly.

He also defended law enforcement officials amid a torrent of threats from right-wingers directed at those perceived as responsible for the search at Mar-a-Lago, including Garland himself, the federal judge who authorized the search warrant, and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Meanwhile, Trump has fueled the alarming rhetoric, suggesting without evidence that the FBI may have planted damaging evidence at his Palm Beach residence. Republican lawmakers have largely rallied to Trump’s defense, adding their own conspiratorial spin to the extraordinary news cycle. 

Here’s the motion:

This is a developing story. 

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

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