(new: “Wall Street Journal”, 7th paragraph)
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – When searching the property of the former US President donald trump According to a media report, the Federal Police FBI is also said to have been looking for secret documents about nuclear weapons. The “Washington Post” reported on Friday night that the newspaper’s unspecified sources did not say what information was actually involved, nor whether this information affected the United States or other countries. The sources also did not provide any information as to whether relevant documents had been found during the search.
Trump denied this and described the report on Friday, which he co-founded on the social network Truth Social, as a “hoax”.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland had previously defended the request for a search warrant against massive criticism from Trump and those around him. “I personally endorsed the decision to seek a search warrant,” Garland said Thursday at a late-breaking address in Washington. “The search warrant was granted by a federal court following the required determination of reasonable suspicion.”
Garland added, “The Department does not take such a decision lightly. Wherever possible, less intrusive means will be sought as an alternative to a search, and any search will be strictly limited.” The federal police FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in the US state of Florida last Monday.
The process is considered unprecedented in US history. The pressure on Garland had since grown to take a stand. Trump was not at his home during the search. He and other Republicans have strongly criticized the search and accused Democratic US President Joe Biden of politicizing the FBI. According to the White House, Biden did not know in advance about the search of the Trump property.
Garland said Thursday he could not comment on the details of the search. However, given the public interest and Trump’s confirmation of the incident, his department has petitioned a federal court to release the search warrant and receipt for confiscated items.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the FBI had seized 11 sets of confidential or classified documents. Among them are those that have been classified as top secret and may only be viewed in special government institutions. The list of confiscated documents does not contain details of their contents. In total, the FBI agents took around 20 boxes of items from Mar-a-Lago. Trump, on the other hand, announced on Friday that all documents had been released, i.e. they were only previously secret or confidential.
The ex-president wrote on Truth Social that items belonging to former first lady Melania Trump were also affected. “I just learned that agents searched the first lady’s closets and ransacked her clothing and personal belongings.” In general, the truthfulness of Trump’s statements is disputed. The Washington Post’s fact checkers had proven that Trump made more than 30,000 false or misleading statements during his tenure.
Trump asked Garland to release the search warrant and receipt for the items confiscated. “Release the documents now!” he wrote on Truth Social. However, Trump would be free to publish the documents himself.
The background to the search was apparently Trump’s handling of documents from his tenure. Earlier this year, it was revealed that the National Archives, which is responsible for storing presidential correspondence, suspected several boxes of confidential material were in Mar-a-Lago. Trump finally handed over several documents to the agency in January.
According to US media reports, there was then a further exchange between investigators and Trump’s lawyers. Officials suspected that Trump or his team were continuing to withhold important documents, the Washington Post wrote, citing anonymous sources. The FBI is said to have taken twelve boxes.
At his appearance on Thursday, Garland warned against questioning the professionalism of his employees. “I would like to address the recent baseless attacks on the professionalism of FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors: I will not stand by while their integrity is unfairly attacked,” he said.
After the Trump raid in Florida, law enforcement officials were sometimes heavily criticized. Concerns about violent attacks also grew. “Violence against law enforcement agencies is not a solution – no matter what or who someone is angry about,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska.
A gunman tried to break into an FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Thursday. When the police confronted him, he fled, the FBI said. Nothing was initially known about the man’s motives. The broadcaster CNN reported that the attacker was shot by the police after a chase./cy/trö/DP/he