Republicans stepped up calls Sunday for the release of an FBI affidavit showing the underlying justification for seizing documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. A search warrant released last week after the unprecedented search showed that Trump had 11 sets of classified documents in his home and that the Justice Department had probable cause to conduct the search based on possible violations of the Espionage Act. Republicans are seeking the release of more detailed information that convinced a federal judge to issue the search warrant, which may show sources of information and details about the nature of the documents and other classified information. Unsealing such affidavits is highly unusual and would require approval from a federal judge. “I think the release of the affidavit would help, at least it would confirm that there was justification for this raid,” Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The Justice Department is going to have to “show that this wasn’t just a fishing spree, that they had reason to go in and do this, that they exhausted all other means,” Rounds said. “And if they can’t do that this. , then we have a serious problem on our hands.” The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representative Mike Turner, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Sunday that the Biden administration should provide more details about what led to the raid. “Congress is saying, ‘Show us. Do we want to know what the FBI told them? What did they find?” Turner said. Representative Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, did not comment on the subject of the affidavit on Sunday. He said it was “most troubling” that Trump continued to keep the classified documents after the Justice Department requested their return. “It appears to be deliberate on the president’s part to keep these documents after the government asked for them back,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Heather Timmons and Lisa Shumaker)
