Jonathan Allen is a senior national affairs reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.
Vaughn Hillyard is a political reporter for NBC News.
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Thursday that former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort's "decision to seek a search warrant was privately filed." The Department of Justice filed a motion to release the warrant earlier in the day.
Speaking about his decision at a press conference on Thursday, Garland said the department "does not take such actions lightly" and sought "non-intrusive" means to obtain materials first. Garland said it was Trump's "right" to reveal Monday's search of his property by the FBI, and that every American is entitled to a presumption of innocence.
Garland also said the Justice Department is asking for the release of property receipts detailing what they found on Trump property.
Trump received a federal grand jury subpoena this spring over classified documents the government believed he kept even after the president left the White House.
Garland's agreement to "non-intrusive" means to retrieve the documents appears to be a reference to the subpoena, and Trump turned over all the materials the Justice Department asked for.
Conservative journalist John Solomon announced on Thursday afternoon that the FBI would raid his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home on Monday. We first reported that a subpoena had been sent to Trump a few months ago. The subpoena, which spoke on condition of anonymity, said the subpoena was related to documents Trump's legal team discussed with Justice Department officials previously reported to him on June 3.
Lago at the June meeting "came down to retrieve the documents requested" in the subpoena, according to a source familiar with the affairs of federal officials who went to Mara. At that meeting, the filing of the relevant documents on that date will fulfill the subpoena.
Citing "two of his sources who were briefed on classified documents" sought in the subpoena, the New York Times said on Thursday that it had not been collected. Federal officials were prompted to search for Mar-a-alago because of this. The material was particularly sensitive to national security.
A source familiar with the matter told NBC News that Trump's lawyers were last contacted by the Justice Department shortly after the June meeting, before the FBI raided, and that federal officials He said it was time to demand additional security for the storage facility where the documents are kept. Trump's team has added his second lock to the basement storage area, according to sources.
At a press conference, Garland also defended the Justice Department against "baseless" attacks by Trump supporters.
"I will not sit on the sidelines when their decency is unjustly attacked," he said. "Every day they protect Americans from violent crime, terrorism and other threats while defending our civil rights."
