Attorney General Merrick Garland made a public statement on Thursday afternoon, August 11, confirming he “personally” signed off on the FBI’s warrant to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on August 8.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) “does not take such a decision lightly,” Garland said in his remarks on Thursday afternoon. He announced a DOJ motion filed in the Southern District of Florida to unseal the search warrant and file inventory of what was taken from the Palm Beach club.

Garland condemned the “unfounded attacks on the professionalism” of “dedicated” DOJ workers. “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” he said.

US media reports, citing sources close to the investigation, said the FBI search appeared to be focused on classified documents that Trump had brought with him to Mar-a-Lago when he left the White House. Credit: The Justice Department via Storyful