Judicial Watch files motion to unseal FBI search warrant for Mar-a-Lago raid

Judicial Watch on Tuesday announced that it filed a motion to unseal the search warrant that the FBI used to raid former President Donald Trump's Florida estate of Mar-a-Lago on Monday evening.

Trump confirmed in a statement on Monday evening that FBI agents had entered his home and broke into his private safe.

"The are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump said. "Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before."

The watchdog group wrote in its motion that "[t]he public has an urgent and substantial interest in understanding the predicate for the execution of the unprecedented search warrant of the private residence of a former president and likely future political opponent."

"[N]o official explanation or information has been released about the search," it continued. "As of the filing of this motion, the public record consists solely of speculation and inuendo [sic]. In short, the historical presumption of access to warrant materials vastly outweighs any interest the government may have in keeping the materials under seal."

Sources familiar with the raid confirmed that the FBI agents came from the Washington Field Office and were reportedly seeking classified documents that Trump may have taken from the White House.

The Washington Field Office, moreover, has been the subject of intense scrutiny from Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has demanded answers from the Bureau over whistleblower claims that former Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault showed political bias in his handling of investigations.

“The Biden administration’s raid on President Trump’s home is an outrageous, reckless and unprecedented abuse of power. And the American people have an urgent right to know how it happened and who is responsible,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a press release announcing the motion.