Former President Donald Trump on Monday called for the Department of Justice to release the affidavit used to justify the raid of his home at Mar-a-Lago.
“[I]n the interest of TRANSPARENCY, I call for the immediate release of the completely Unredacted Affidavit pertaining to this horrible and shocking BREAK-IN,” Trump wrote on social media.
The release of the affidavit would reveal the facts used to justify the raid, a decision that Attorney General Merrick Garland said was not taken “lightly” and only after taking “less intrusive means.”
Trump criticized the Justice Department, arguing there was no way to justify the raid of a former president by the administration of a current president.
Trump said he is “ENCOURAGING the immediate release” of the search warrant and related documents that led to Monday’s FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago. https://t.co/IbOb2nLjsm
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 12, 2022
The Justice Department opposes the release of the affidavit, arguing in a court filing Monday they needed to “protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security” and protect information about witnesses in the case.
Multiple media organizations and government transparency organization Judicial Watch have filed a motion to unseal the warrant and supporting materials behind the raid.
“No administration should be able to raid the home of a former president and putative presidential candidate based on ‘secret’ reasons,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement reacting to the filing from the Justice Department.
