WASHINGTON: Republicans stepped up calls for the release of an FBI affidavit showing the justification for the seizure of documents at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home amid reports of heightened threats against federal law enforcement personnel.
A search warrant released last week 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 disclosure of more detailed information that was persuading a federal judge to issue a 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 would require approval from a federal judge.
At least that would confirm that there was a justification for this raid, Republican Senator Mike Rounds told NBC's Meet the Press that he would release the affidavit.
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. If they can't do that, we've got a serious problem on our hands. The Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Marco Rubio, asked the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to provide the documents on a classified basis.
A spokesman for the committee, who is charged with overseeing the handling of classified information, said the two senators had also requested an assessment of potential risks to national security as a result of possible mishandling of the files.
On Sunday, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, said on CNN that the Biden administration should give more details on what led to the search.
Congress is saying: Show us.'' We want to know what the FBI told them? Turner said something.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment on the FBI affidavit.