President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) sought “any government and/or Presidential Records” from former President Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House during Monday’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, according to a copy of the search warrant obtained by Breitbart News.
The warrant, approved by Florida Magistrate Bruce Reinhart, included a list of property to be seized in its “Attachment B.”
The warrant’s “Attachment B” authorized FBI agents to take documents and records in violation of three criminal statutes.
“They are: 18 U.S.C. section 793, which deals with defense information; 18 U.S.C. section 1519, which deals with destroying federal documents; and 18 U.S.C. section 2071, which deals with concealing, removing, or damaging federal documents,” Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle reported.
The warrant confirms recent reports that federal authorities were searching Trump’s residence for boxes of White House documents Trump may have brought with him from the White House.
The warrant also authorized the FBI agents to seize “information, including communications in any form, regarding the retrieval, storage, or transmission of national defense information or classified material.”
However, it also appears the search warrant contained a catch-all provision that allowed federal authorities to seize any documents found from the Trump White House.
The search warrant authorized FBI agents to seize “any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021.”
Under “Attachment B” of the FBI raid document, Garland demanded the seizure of literally any record Trump ever saw, read, or created over the entire 4-year term of his presidency: “Any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021.”
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 12, 2022
That catch-all provision of the search warrant seemingly violates the DOJ’s “standard practice” of narrowing the scope of any search.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who admitted he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant,” also said during a Thursday press conference, “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.”
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
