The FBI agents who raided Donald Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, were looking for classified documents on nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with the investigation, according to The Washington Post.
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated on Thursday that he personally authorised the raid after seeking permission for a search warrant, but he did not go into great detail about the investigation.
The Post, citing officials, did not elaborate on the specific information sought by the agents in the raid. They also did not say whether the documents were about weapons from the United States or another country.
They also refused to say whether such documents were discovered during the search. They are concerned, however, that such documents said to be in Trump’s possession could fall into the hands of the wrong people.
However, people close to the raid told The New York Times that the documents were so sensitive and vital to national security that the Justice Department had no choice but to try to recover them.
Conservative politicians are increasingly attacking the FBI, demanding an explanation from the Justice Department as to what prompted the search.
On Thursday, Trump said in a late-night post on his Truth Social platform that he would “not oppose the release of documents,” adding, “I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents.”
He also stated that the Justice Department had petitioned the court to have the search warrant and property receipt from the search unsealed.
It has argued for the search warrant to be unsealed, citing “the intense public interest presented by a search of a former President’s residence.”