Attorney General Merrick B. Garland moved on Thursday to make public the warrant used in the F.B.I.’s search of former President Donald J. Trump’s residence in Florida — and said he had personally approved the search after “less intrusive” attempts to retrieve documents taken from the White House by Mr. Trump failed.
In a clipped, two-minute statement to reporters at the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington, Mr. Garland, who previously declined to comment on the search, said he decided to make a public statement because Mr. Trump had confirmed the action. The attorney general also cited the “surrounding circumstances” of the case and the “substantial public interest in this matter.”
Minutes before Mr. Garland took the podium, a top official in the Justice Department’s national security division filed a motion to unseal the warrant — along with an inventory of items retrieved in the search — redacted to prevent the release of national security information.
It is not clear how quickly the warrant and the other documents could be made public or whether Mr. Trump will object.
The former president’s lawyers have the opportunity to challenge the motion. His legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Judge Bruce Reinhart, the judge in the case, issued an order requiring the Justice Department to serve a copy of its motion to Mr. Trump’s lawyers. It says the department must then tell the judge by 3 p.m. on Friday whether Mr. Trump opposes the motion.
Mr. Garland’s decision to make a public statement came at an extraordinary moment in the Justice Department’s 152-year history, as the sprawling investigation of a former president who remains a powerful political force gains momentum. Prosecutors from an array of the department’s divisions and regional offices are taking new actions, seemingly every day.
Mr. Garland, a laconic former judge, had come under increasing pressure this week to provide more public information about why the Justice Department decided that a search was necessary and who approved it — or at least to offer an explanation of the legal processes undertaken by his subordinates.
But he seemed, even on Thursday, to do so with considerable reluctance. And he reiterated his oft-stated commitment to conducting the inquiry within the confines of the legal system rather than in public, with a goal of protecting the rights of targets of the investigation and its integrity.
“Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy,” said Mr. Garland, who refused to answer reporters’ shouted questions as he walked slowly out of the seventh-floor briefing room.
“Much of our work is by necessity conducted out of the public eye,” the attorney general added. “We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all.”
His move is less noteworthy for its legal import than its political significance: By giving Mr. Trump the right to oppose the motion in court, Mr. Garland’s team is aiming to shield the Justice Department from accusations that it is unilaterally releasing material intended to embarrass him.
Mr. Garland will also be able to claim to his critics that he has publicly addressed the F.B.I. search and shown the public his legal justification for the action, even though the documents being released are likely to contain minimal new details and be riddled with redactions.
Nor does the department plan to release affidavits — which contain much more information about the behavior of Mr. Trump and evidence presented by others — that were used to obtain the warrant, officials said on Thursday.
Mr. Garland did not directly address an episode at an F.B.I. office in Cincinnati earlier on Thursday, in which a man in body armor showed up a security checkpoint. Justice Department officials said he was monitoring the situation closely but did not have enough information to determine the motive of a…
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