Just before a press conference scheduled by the Department of Justice on Thursday evening, it is reported that Donald Trump sent U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland a personal message.
In this message, Trump appeared to ask what he could do to help defuse the political tensions that erupted last week, following the FBI raid on his Florida home.
The Details
Someone close to the former president asked a Justice Department representative to send a letter to Garland just before the media briefing.
According to the New York Times, Trump wanted to tell Garland, “the nation is on fire. How can I turn down the heat?”
Garland arrived at the news conference 35 minutes later, spoke for a brief period of time, and did not take any questions from the media.
New twist in FBI raid: Trump had ‘standing order’ to declassify documents taken to residence | Just The News https://t.co/uNEkXxXWco
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) August 13, 2022
Garland acknowledged in the news conference, “first, I personally ordered the decision to pursue a search warrant in this instance.”
He said, “the department does not make such a choice lightly. It is common practice to try to avoid using intrusive methods whenever possible and to limit the scope of any searches that are conducted.”
The former leader is being investigated for a number of alleged crimes, including possible violations of the Espionage Act, unauthorized removal of federal property, and obstruction of justice connected to document destruction.
The U.S. Department of Justice received a written declaration from at least one of Trump’s attorneys earlier this summer, claiming all boxes and classified material in a store room on the estate had been handed back to the government.
Agents investigated Trump’s office and home on the site, as well as the storage space.
What They Found
While examining the premises, federal authorities found five sets of classified documents, three sets of secret documents, three sets of secret information, and at least 11 sets of sensitive documents.
The signed statement could indicate either Trump or his legal team may have lied to federal investigators.
With the FBI’s raid of Trump’s private residence, I wanted to repost a video that I did back in 2016 showing James Comey of the FBI letting Hillary off the hook for mishandling classified info. Insane hypocrisy!
Check out “What Difference Does It Make?” pic.twitter.com/UY19CplmIv
— Socialist Mop (@socialistmop) August 13, 2022
The probe was started after the National Archives learned Trump removed official documents they were meant to receive when he left office last year.
More than a dozen containers Trump returned at the beginning of this year were examined by officials. It was found that many of the documents contained secret markings. A federal grand jury was called after the DOJ was informed by the National Archives.
Later, a subpoena was filed to obtain the remaining papers. According to the story, Trump’s advisors advised him to return the records, but he chose not to.
When investigators went to the property in June, Trump’s attorneys took them to the storage space where some of the secret documents were housed.
With the confidential information, the investigators departed. Following that visit, at least one of Trump’s attorneys reportedly acknowledged in writing that all secret information had been given back.
