Republicans stepped up calls on Sunday for the release of an FBI affidavit showing the underlying justification for its seizure of documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
After the unprecedented search, a search warrant was released last week. It showed that Trump had 11 sets classified documents at his residence and that the Justice Department had probable cause for the search. This was due to possible violations of the Espionage Act.
Republicans are calling for the disclosure of more detailed information that persuaded a federal judge to issue the search warrant, which may show sources of information and details about the nature of the documents and other classified information. It is unusual for such affidavits to be unsealed and would require approval by a federal judge.
“I think a releasing the affidavit would help, at least that would confirm that there was justification for this raid,” Republican Senator Mike Rounds told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“The Justice Department should “show that this was not just a fishing expedition, that they had due cause to go in and to do this, that they did exhaust all other means,” Rounds said. “And if they can’t do that, then we’ve got a serious problem on our hands.”
The Department of Justice did no immediate respond to a request for comment.
Representative Mike Turner (top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee) stated on CNN that the Biden Administration should provide more information about what led to the raid.
“Congress is saying, ‘Show us. We want to find out what the FBI told them. What did they discover?’” Turner said.
Representative Adam Schiff (California Democrat) is the House Intelligence Committee Chair. The issue of the affidavit was not addressed by him on Sunday.
He said it was “most disturbing” that Trump continued to hold the classified documents after the Justice Department sought their return. “It appears to be willful on the president’s part, the keeping of these documents after the government was requesting them back,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
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