Former President Donald Trump said late Thursday that the warrant authorizing the FBI to search his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida should be publicly released.
Responding to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s request for a federal court earlier Thursday to unseal parts of the warrant, Mr. Trump said in a statement: “Release the documents now!”
“Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid … I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents,” he said.
The former president said he wants the documents released “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 said of the search, “This unprecedented political weaponization of law enforcement is inappropriate and highly unethical.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart has given the Justice Department until 3 p.m. Friday to notify him whether Mr. Trump’s attorneys oppose releasing the warrant and property receipt.
SEE ALSO: DOJ moves to unseal Trump search warrant; Garland personally approved search
Mr. Garland said Thursday there has been nothing stopping Mr. Trump and his lawyers from releasing the information at any time.
Mr. Trump has not said what investigators recovered from his home.
The Washington Post reported the sought material involved information about nuclear weapons, prompting the former president to say the “nuclear weapons issue is a hoax.”
He also complained that his lawyers had to wait outside while the search was conducted.
“Made them wait outside in the heat, wouldn’t let them get even close — said ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT,’” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he launched after getting kicked off Twitter. “Planting information anyone?”
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this story.
SEE ALSO: Trump says he was cooperating with government ahead of raid, search came ‘out of nowhere’
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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