U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made an address at the White House regarding the federal raid of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence and said the Department of Justice will “unseal” documents related to the search and the items seized.
Garland confirmed that he personally approved the controversial federal move to search Trump’s private home at Mar-a-Lago.
“The Department of Justice will speak through its court filings and its work,” Garland said at 3:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday. “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. That search was a premises located in Florida belonging to the former president.”
“The department filed the motion to make public the warrant and receipt in light of the former president’s public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances and the substantial public interest in this matter,” he said.
Trump blasted the raid on his social media site when he announced the unprecedented move.
“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,” Trump said in a statement. “After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.”
Earlier, FBI Director Christopher Wray also made his first official statement referencing the raid. He called for calm and said FBI agents were being threatened.
He did not offer an explanation as to why the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump has a copy of the federal warrant that outlines what FBI agents were looking for but has also not made public why specifically federal agents claimed they were raiding the residence.
FBI agents were seen leaving Mar-a-Lago with boxes, and Trump’s lawyers said they seized “papers” and other items.
At a press conference at the FBI building in Omaha, Nebraska, Wray declined to directly address the ongoing Trump investigation when confronted by a reporter.
Wray only said he’d address the alleged threats made at FBI officials since the controversial search warrant was executed.
“As to threats, I will say I’m always concerned about violence and threats of violence against law enforcement,” Wray said.
“That is a topic that I’ve been talking about frequently, including with law enforcement partners here in Nebraska and yesterday with law enforcement partners in Iowa and Illinois,” he said.
“Any threats made against law enforcement, including the men and women in the FBI — as with any law enforcement agency — are deplorable and dangerous.”
Take a look —
🚨Breaking: FBI Director Chris Wray finally confronted on FBI raid of Donald Trump’s private residence at Mar-A-Lago, deflects and says he’s “concerned” about “threats” being made to FBI agents after they ransacked the former President’s home. pic.twitter.com/VXC6XnQpxp
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) August 10, 2022
According to reports out of Cincinnati, Ohio, an armed man decked out in body armor tried to breach a security screening area at the city’s FBI field office on Thursday, then fled and was injured in an exchange of gunfire in a standoff with law enforcement, authorities said.
Federal officials claim the man had “attempted to breach” the visitor’s screening area at the FBI office and fled when he was confronted by agents. He was chased onto Interstate 71, and a shot was fired from his car, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The suspect left the interstate and abandoned his car on nearby roads, where he exchanged gunfire with police. The man has “unknown injuries,” but no one else was hurt, the patrol said.
Officials in Ohio have locked down a mile radius near the interstate and urged residents and business owners to lock doors and stay inside. The interstate has been reopened.
An FBI evidence team has arrived at the office to investigate, according to multiple media reports.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article