U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has now come forth publicly with remarks about the August 8 federal search of the former president's Palm Beach, Florida property.
AG Garland announced Thursday afternoon on-camera that the Department of Justice has filed a motion with the federal Southern District of Florida court to unseal - make public - the warrant that was served on former President Trump.
That warrant was the basis for FBI agents going into the former president's "Mar-A-Lago" estate. Reports have noted that the FBI removed a number of items from that property, entering with legal entitlement secured areas of the property in search of things specified in the warrant.
Legal observers quickly pointed out that the warrant most likely has an "attachment" which would specify the federal statutes under which the search was conducted. This, they say, would indicate the direction of the ongoing investigation and the areas under which legal vulnerability of the former president might exist.
AG Garland also stated that DoJ has also asked the federal court to make public the inventory of items that were taken by the FBI. Analysts say that inventory might be highly detailed, or possibly more general rather than item-by-item.
The attorney general said that he filed the motion to unseal after the former president and members of his family had publicly commented about the FBI search and removal, which Garland said rendered the matter no longer private.
The Southern District of Florida was the same federal court that authorized the warrant and search.
Attorneys for the former president are legally entitled to challenge that unsealing before that court.