President Trump to AG Garland: "Release the Documents Now!"

In the wake of this week’s unprecedented raid on former U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal residence by the FBI, President Donald Trump has called out Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding that the AG “release the documents” that were used to obtain a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago.

Yesterday AG Garland gave what I wouldn’t even call a press conference since he didn’t take any questions, but maybe an “appearance” would be an appropriate word. He essentially just released a statement, and as usual didn’t sound very strong, or very clear. His explanations were a bit shaky. He did admit that he had signed off on the warrant authorizing the raid on President Trump’s home, which we of course knew, but he was basically just confirming the fact to the media.

Attorney General Garland kicked off his statement with the claim: “Since I became Attorney General, I have made clear that the Department of Justice will speak through its court filings, and through its work.”

ACLJ Senior Counsel Andy Ekonomou shares his own analysis of this less-than-reassuring statement by AG Garland, given the actions we’ve seen so far: 

We have n expression in the South: Hit dog barks. In other words, he knew that he did something wrong and now he’s putting out the signal by making these innocuous and foolish statements about 
We don’t do anything except what we say in our court papers and what we do in our work." You don’t have to justify that. You have to justify why you went before a judge who was recused, why that judge did not recuse himself, what were you looking for, and what are the affidavits. Say: Tell us! Why? Is it a secret? Is it a secret what the affidavit said? And when you do the return of service to the magistrate, go into great detail. Tell me what room you searched. Tell me what you found in the room. List the documents. Go into specific details. And what’s most important to put confidence in the government, say that that is what you’re going to do now so that we know what’s coming. Be open. Be transparent about these things.

However, what AG Garland also did say is that the DOJ had filed a motion yesterday to unseal the search warrant and property receipt relating to the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. And both of those documents are now likely to be unsealed as soon as this afternoon.

Obviously, at this point, we don’t know how descriptive the documents are. They could be very detailed, or they could be vague or generic – intentionally or not. But you would think if you were Merrick Garland and you were going to go after the former President, that you would be able to present a pretty strong case that you were justified. At least show a paper trail that you tried to get whatever you were searching for through less-intrusive or embarrassing means. Then you, as the Attorney General wouldn’t have to hide. You could confidently address the country and say: Here’s why. But that’s not what happened.

Now we wait for the release of the documents, which we will analyze thoroughly and update you with what we find.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast includes further in-depth discussion of the Attorney General’s statement and what the documents might reveal.

Watch the full broadcast below: