It was not immediately clear if and when the unsealing request, filed in federal court in Miami, might be granted or when the documents could be released.
Now, the Justice Department has asked a court to unseal the search warrant the FBI received before searching the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump, Garland said Thursday.
Before Garland’s remarks, there had been no high-level comment from the Justice Department since federal agents spent most of the day Monday at Trump’s winter home, reportedly retrieving documents and even opening a safe.
The FBI search was part of an investigation into whether the former president took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence. While Republicans have rallied behind Trump, very few facts about the case have been released publicly.
Trump’s attorneys have so far declined to release details from the search warrant, and the former president – who was in New York at the time of the search – has suggested on social media that agents could have been planting evidence at his home.
A spokesperson for the vacationing President Biden later told reporters that the president was not informed ahead of the search.