to be blindsided by this announcement to say, hey, court, they want to see the receipts. they ve contacted out that attorney apparently for advice and they are considering asking the judge to even block the request by the doj to make that unsealed. that move would seem a bit odd, wouldn t it? trump himself was publicly revealing that the search even took place and then he blasted it as politically motivated and there was republican allies in congress and right-wing media who pushed his accusations. might add, not too highly. they dehanded transparency. merrick garland as the attorney general is calling trump s bluff, isn t he? the justice department has filed a motion in the southern district of florida to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating to a court-approved search that the fbi conducted earlier this week. that search was a premises located in florida belonging to the former president. the department did not make any public statements on the day of the
mar-a-lago home. tonight, the washington post is quoting sources who are saying that investigators are searching for classified nuclear documents and other items. that there was some deep concern among officials about material potentially ending up in the wrong hands. sources don t say if such documents were recovered, but this follows an extraordinary move by the attorney general, merrick garland. he asked a federal court to unseal the warned that permitted the search to take place in the first place. sitting off a quick chain of events tonight. a source saying that a trump and his team appear to be blindsided by this announcement to say hey, we want to see the receipts. they ve contacted attorneys independently for advice and considering asking the judge to even block the request by the doj to make that unsealed. that move would seem a bit odd, wouldn t it? trump himself was publicly revealing that the search even took place. he blasted it as politically motivated. there
media with his talent off the field. and the big honors being awarded to nbc news and this very broadcast. announcer: this is “nbc nightly news” with lester holt good evening i m kate snow in for lester tonight in a rare move, the u.s. attorney general merrick garland is speaking out, saying he personally approved the fbi search of former president trump s home at mar-a-lago on monday. while he said he could not provide more details about the basis of the search, he did say the department of justice is asking a judge to make the warrant that was issued public. mr. trump reacting on social media saying with no warning mar-a-lago was raided. that message resonating with trump supporters, some ridiculing, even threatening law enforcement. today the attorney general pointedly saying he would not stand by silently seeing his agents integrity attacked just hours before in cincinnati, an armed man walked into an fbi field office shooting a nail gun more on that in a mom
federal agents were looking for in that search but not why they ordered the search if this warrant is unsealed, right that s right, kate. the attorney general did not take any questions today. and the department is not seeking to make public the affidavit which lays out the probable cause that a crime was committed. that was the basis for a judge approving the fbi search that would tell us much more about what investigators believe is going on. beyond government property and classified documents kate and, kelly, do we think the former president s legal team will challenge the doj motion that s interesting. the former president could have made the search-related documents public himself. any time this week he has them. he can do so like the inventory of what was seized. the new york times reports that trump allies have contacted outside lawyers about challenging the motion to unseal the documents. we should learn more kate kelly o donnell following all of it at the white house
post reporting that fbi search the donald trump s mar-a-lago home looking for classified documents related to nuclear weapons. and attorney general merrick garland making a surprise move. asking a federal court to unseal, which means make public, that search warrant and the property receipt that was given to trump s legal counsel that day. a source saying trump and his team are considering asking the court to block the doj motion and keep it out of the public s eye. i want to bring in cnn contributor june dean, former nixon white house counsel. good to see you. i am wondering what your reaction is to the washington post reporting. i mean, the idea that this is not just the category of classified documents, more broadly, but this is perhaps related to not just national security, but nuclear weapons?