On Thursday, just hours after Joe Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland asked for a judge to unseal the search warrant for the raid on 45th President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, a judge has punted the burden back on Garland’s DOJ.
Fox News reports:
A federal judge Thursday gave the Justice Department until 3 p.m. Friday to certify whether former President Donald Trump supports or opposes unsealing the warrant and property receipt from the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago home Monday.
“The United States shall immediately serve a copy of its Motion on counsel for former President Trump,” Magestrate Judge Bruce Reinhard wrote in an order on the DOJ’s motion to unseal the warrant and property receipt. “On or before 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on August 12, 2022, the United States shall file a certificate of conferral advising whether former President Trump opposes the Government’s motion to unseal.”
The order came shortly after Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed the raid on Trump’s home foor the first time since it happened. Garland said he personally signed off on the search warrant for the raid, and that the Justice Department aims to make more information about it public.
“Just now, the Justice Department has filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating to a court-approved search that the FBI conducted earlier this week,” Garland said. “That search was a premises located in Florida belonging to the former president.”
After Garland made his statements earlier in the day, Trump responded on Truth Social, writing:
My attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully, and very good relationships had been established. The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it. They asked us to put an additional lock on a certain area – DONE! Everything was fine, better than that of most previous Presidents, and then, out of nowhere and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided, at 6:30 in the morning, by VERY large numbers of agents, and even “safecrackers.” They got way ahead of themselves. Crazy!
The 45th President added in a subsequent post:
….Just learned that agents went through the First Lady’s closets and rummaged through her clothing and personal items. Surprisingly, left area in a relative mess. Wow!
