Garland apparently did not confirm any of this in his terse statement, but claimed there were reasons to authorize such an operation, a “probable reason” which he defines without giving details. An action that was kept secret even within the Ministry of Justice and was therefore not welcomed by some officials. In fact, it seems that the agents who arrived at Trump’s mansion were not even wearing the uniform with the FBI inscription and showed up in the morning rather than the usual night, so as not to cause a stir.
The minister defends the FBI and the judges
The Attorney General wanted to underline the professionalism of the Justice Department’s agents and officials by dismissing the attacks received during those hours as “unjustified”. “Department of Justice agents and officials have been unjustly targeted. They are patriots who sacrifice themselves for the good of the country. I’m honored to work with them,” said Garland, who was a target of death threats along with FBI Director Christopher Wray and the judge who physically authorized the search, Bruce Reinhart.
The FBI chief also condemned the attacks as “worrying”. “Violence against law enforcement is never the answer,” Wray said.
Trump, who has refused 450 times to answer questions from the New York attorney and has retired with supporters at his New Jersey golf club, did not answer the attorney general directly. But minutes after Garland testified on his social media, Truth accused former President Barack Obama of bringing “33 million pages of documents” to Chicago and “the media that produces fake news” for refusing to talk about it.
The fraud investigation
On the other hand, Donald Trump’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment and not answer the New York Attorney’s questions more than 400 times leaves Letitia James at a crossroads.