The NPR Politics Podcast - Justice Dept. Files Motion To Unseal Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. It is 4.36 p.m. on Thursday, August 11, 2022. I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover politics. I'm Keri Johnson. I cover the Justice Department. And I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent. We're here a little later than usual because Attorney General Merrick Garland just spoke about the FBI search earlier this week of Mar-a-Lago, the home of former President Donald Trump. Garland wants the public to see that warrant. The Justice Department has filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal a

Starting point is 00:00:36 search warrant and property receipt relating to a court-approved search that the FBI conducted earlier this week. That search was of premises located in Florida belonging to the former president. The department's filing also says, quote, the public's clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing, end quote. Carrie, when do you think we could actually see the warrant? Well, the Justice Department wanted to give Donald Trump a chance to object, and the judge is apparently going to let that happen. The judge has set the deadline for 3 p.m. Friday. So the wheels of justice move kind of slowly. I suppose there's an outside chance we

Starting point is 00:01:18 might be able to see something tomorrow, but maybe it'll wait till next week. And would this warrant be specific or will it just say things like, you know, seven boxes of documents without elaborating what's actually in them? OK, so what the Justice Department wants to release, wants to ask the court to release are two things. The warrant itself, which describes the address and a little bit more information, and then the property receipt or inventory. That's what the FBI gave Trump's lawyer documenting what they took out of Mar-a-Lago, bunches and bunches of boxes earlier this week. Now, we may get some sense of what laws the DOJ thinks may have been broken, what kinds of things they're investigating. But the motherlode of secrets really is in something called the affidavit.

Starting point is 00:01:59 DOJ has not asked for that to be released. And I don't think former President Trump will want that released either. So we're going to see some things, but not the mother load. Garland also said in his statement that he not only knew about the warrant ahead of time, but also was the one to sign off on it. First, I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter. Second, the department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.

Starting point is 00:02:39 Carrie, how unusual is it for the Justice Department to talk about investigations it is undertaking like this. It is very unusual. We heard Attorney General Merrick Garland say all the time he wants to follow the facts and the law. He wants everybody to have a fair shot at justice. And he wants the Justice Department to speak in court, not at a press conference. But in some ways, he was pressed to say something, in part because former President Trump told the whole world about the search on Monday night. And then Republicans in Congress, including some leaders

Starting point is 00:03:09 like Kevin McCarthy in the House, have been pressing the Justice Department to say more and repeating baseless things, conspiracies about the nature of this investigation. Finally, you know, there's been a lot of speculation out there about the reason for this investigation and the basis for it. And Garland, I think, thought now is the time to say what we can, given the intense public interest. Although, actually, you know, former President Trump and his lawyers had these materials. They could have released him at any time and they didn't want to, which also says something. I think that line, standard practice to seek less intrusive means, is a really important piece of the political puzzle here as we're looking at this, because there's been a lot of pressure on Garland to say more here because there's been such an attack on

Starting point is 00:03:57 the right jumping to conclusions about the Justice Department playing politics. And, you know, Garland had to come out and not only defend his agents, but defend their process. And we have no idea what they got. We have no idea what they were exactly looking for. But this was a step forward in figuring out some of that, but also politically changing the narrative here a little bit and putting the ball more in Trump's court now, because, again, this motion that they filed said that they want this released, quote, absent objection from former President Trump. So in other words, you want it out there, you want people to know what it is, then you can approve it or not.

Starting point is 00:04:35 Okay, let's take a quick break and we'll be back with more on this soon. And we're back. In Garland's statement today, he said he personally approved the warrant. For people who aren't as familiar with how these kinds of things work, Carrie, is it common for the attorney general. So just in terms of common sense and the way Washington works generally, you would imagine that the highest levels of the Justice Department and the FBI would want to take a look at this application to make sure it was pristine legally and otherwise, right? And also because for a long time now, the Justice Department has had guidelines in place involving politically sensitive investigations. Donald Trump has been a candidate in the past. He may well be a candidate again soon for president in 2024. And the DOJ tends to want the highest levels of the Justice Department to approve any steps in an investigation

Starting point is 00:05:38 or an inquiry that would involve somebody at that level. I want to play some more tape from Garland's statement today. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. Every day, they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism, and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to work alongside them. Domenico, Garland is putting himself out there as kind of like a shield for his department's lawyers, agents, everybody here, basically saying the buck stops with me.

Starting point is 00:06:28 What did you make of that? Well, this is a big deal, right? I mean, and he knows the stakes. He knows that, as Kerry noted, it's unprecedented to go and, you know, search the home of a former president. This is a high level. It's very polarizing. And the department is stuck in the middle here because their goal is to follow facts, see where it leads them. And, you know, the

Starting point is 00:06:51 attorney general is essentially saying, this is on me. OK, I approve this. And, you know, that's why we're going in to search for what we're searching for, even though we can't talk about it because we don't want to jeopardize the investigation. And by the way, it used to be a common understanding that threats of violence were not a partisan or a political issue. You know, we have a statement this afternoon from the FBI Agents Association saying this is a matter of public safety and basic decency. You should not be threatening public officials or law enforcement officials. It's just the wrong thing to do. Well, Domenico, what have we heard today from the former president? He put out a statement on Truth Social where he said,

Starting point is 00:07:29 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. Now, that's different than obviously what we're being told by the Justice Department because they're saying they wouldn't have taken this kind of extraordinary step if they were getting the information that they wanted. NPR can confirm, Domenico, that the White House didn't know Garland was going to speak. They have also said that the president learned about the search of Mar-a-Lago when the rest of the public did. This has not stopped the former president from alleging that this is politically motivated. Did Garland today blunt

Starting point is 00:08:05 that message for Trump and his allies? I think in some respects, yes, because they, you know, he needed to be able to, you know, kind of put the ball back in Trump's court here to say, look, we're happy to release more information, but the former president has to be able to approve that. Now, you want the information out there, then go ahead and allow it to be out there. We have nothing to hide. And that's kind of what he's trying to say there to say, look, you can't just throw out all these allegations and make politics of something that really he's trying to say has nothing to do with politics. But, you know, there's not going to be convincing, you know, the legions of people who follow President Trump as long as former President Trump is continuing to say that what's being said is false. I mean, how many millions of

Starting point is 00:08:50 people is he convinced that an election was stolen that wasn't? Okay, well, thank you both for your reporting. I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover politics. I'm Carrie Johnson. I cover the Justice Department. And I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent. And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.

The NPR Politics Podcast - Justice Dept. Files Motion To Unseal Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant

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