justified FBI search of Trump's home
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans stepped up calls on Sunday for the release of an FBI affidavit showing the underlying justification for its seizure of documents at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
A search warrant released last week after the unprecedented search showed that Trump had 11 sets of classified documents at his home, and that the Justice Department had probable cause to conduct the search based on possible Espionage Act violations.
Republicans are calling for the disclosure of more detailed information that persuaded a federal judge to issue the search warrant, which may show sources of information and details about the nature of the documents and other classified information. The unsealing of such affidavits is highly unusual and would require approval from a federal judge.
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"I think a releasing the affidavit would help, at least that would confirm that there was justification for this raid," Republican Senator Mike Rounds told NBC's "Meet the Press".
"The Justice Department should "show that this was not just a fishing expedition, that they had due cause to go in and to do this, that they did exhaust all other means," Rounds said. "And if they can't do that, then we've got a serious problem on our hands."
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
قال النائب مايك تيرنر ، أكبر جمهوري في لجنة المخابرات بمجلس النواب ، على شبكة سي إن إن يوم الأحد إن إدارة بايدن يجب أن تقدم مزيدًا من التفاصيل حول سبب الغارة.
قال تورنر: "الكونجرس يقول: أرنا. نريد أن نعرف ماذا قال لهم مكتب التحقيقات الفيدرالي؟ ماذا وجدوا؟"
النائب آدم شيف ، الديمقراطي عن ولاية كاليفورنيا الذي يرأس لجنة المخابرات بمجلس النواب ، لم يتطرق إلى قضية الشهادة يوم الأحد.
وقال إن الأمر "الأكثر إثارة للقلق" هو استمرار ترامب في الاحتفاظ بالوثائق السرية بعد أن طلبت وزارة العدل إعادتها. وقال في مقابلة مع برنامج "واجه الأمة" على شبكة سي بي إس: "يبدو أن الاحتفاظ بهذه الوثائق مقصودًا من جانب الرئيس بعد أن طلبت الحكومة إعادتها".