Attorney General Merrick Garland will speak publicly on Thursday for the first time since FBI agents searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.
On Monday, agents searched Trump’s residence and his safe in what sources familiar with the matter have told USA TODAY is an investigation related to Trump’s removal of classified documents from the White House when he left office.
Trump has denounced that investigation. The latest action prompted Trump to make accusations of a “witch hunt” in all levels of government, including the bureau itself. However, FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump while he was president.
Related:The Mar-a-Lago search warrant has become a hot topic for speculation. Here’s what we really know
Republicans have said the search was politically motivated, and Wray has responded to threats against the department since the search.
Since 2021, Trump has faced legal scrutiny in at least five independent federal and state inquiries that are both criminal and civil in nature. At least two investigations involve the 2020 election. A bipartisan House committee is digging into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. New York’s attorney general is investigating the Trump Organization’s business practices. And a federal inquiry into presidential records is ongoing, and appears to have prompted a search by the FBI at his Florida estate.
What was taken:Donald Trump knows what FBI agents took from Mar-a-Lago and why they took it, experts say
White House: Biden did not have prior knowledge of Garland’s statement
A White House official said President Joe Biden had no prior knowledge that Garland would be making a statement Thursday and learned about it through media reports.
The White House has previously said Biden was not given advannotice of the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property Monday.
“We did not have advance notice of this activity,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this week.
– Joey Garrison
Who is Merrick Garland?
Before he was attorney general, Garland was a longtime judge who was nominated for the Justice Department post when Joe Biden won the presidency.
Garland is a Chicago native who attended Harvard University for both undergraduate studies and law school. He practiced corporate law and then served as a deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton, who then nominated him to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
President Barack Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court in 2016, but he was never confirmed to the high court when Senate Republicans declined to give him a hearing.
Investigations:Trump in midst of gathering storm of investigations. Mar-a-Lago document inquiry is one of many.
