Former President Trump gives first interview since FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid, vows to 'help country'

A Florida judge has scheduled a hearing Thursday in Florida regarding the matter of unsealing FBI records related to last week's raid of Mar-a-Lago.

President Trump's team, on the Truth Social network, called for the unredacted release of the affidavit related to the search, but the Justice Department has opposed doing so, arguing that it will jeopardize the ongoing investigation.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., on the GOP planning to probe the FBI over the Trump raid and how the Inflation Reduction Act will raise inflation.

Former President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post Monday, wrote "Republicans could win many additional seats, both in the House & Senate, because of the strong backlash over the raid at Mar-a-Lago."

"Polls are showing that some lost Republican territory over the last number of weeks has been more than made up with the unannounced Break In by the FBI, which should never have happened!" he claimed.

Former President Trump called for the immediate release of the "completely unredacted" Mar-a-Lago affidavit in a late night post on Truth Social.

Trump said the move would be in the interest of "TRANSPARENCY."

"There is no way to justify the unannounced RAID of Mar-a-Lago, the home of the 45th President of the United States (who got more votes, by far, than any sitting President in the history of our Country!), by a very large number of gun toting FBI Agents, and the Department of 'Justice,'" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "But, in the interest of TRANSPARENCY, I call for the immediate release of the completely Unredacted Affidavit pertaining to this horrible and shocking BREAK-IN."

Trump also called for the judge on the case to be recused from the case.

Trump's post comes after the Justice Department filed a motion opposing the release of the affidavit that was used to justify the search of Mar-a-Lago.

"If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps," the 13-page filing says.

"The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly."

A judge unsealed the search warrant and property receipt on Friday, which revealed that FBI agents seized approximately 20 boxes of items from Trump's home, including one set of documents marked as "Various classified/TS/SCI documents," which refers to top secret/sensitive compartmented information.

"The government determined that these materials could be released without significant harm to its investigation because the search had already been executed and publicly acknowledged by the former President, and because the materials had previously been provided to the former President through counsel," the Justice Department wrote in Monday's filing.

"Disclosure at this juncture of the affidavit supporting probable cause would, by contrast, cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation."

The Justice Department said Monday that it does not oppose the release of other documents, such as cover sheets for the warrant and the government's motion to seal.

Other lawmakers have also called for the release of the affidavit and other documents supporting the search warrant from Trump's home.

The issue now goes back to the magistrate judge, who may ask Trump's team whether they would support the release of the affidavit.

For more on this story: Trump calls for Mar-a-Lago affidavit release, denounces FBI raid: "No way to justify"

A spokesman for former President Trump blasted CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell for alleging the FBI did not have his passports.

Trump made headlines on Monday with a statement he released on his social media platform Truth Social alleging the FBI "stole" three of his passports, calling it an "assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our country."

O'Donnell, host of "CBS Evening News," suggested the Department of Justice did not have Trump's passports, tweeting, "According to a DOJ official, the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump's passports," later adding, "if any items not contained in the warrant were retrieved during the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, they will be returned."

Taylor Budovich, director of communications for the Save America PAC and Donald J. Trump, appeared to debunk O'Donnell's claim by sharing a screenshot of an email sent earlier in the day by Jay Bratt, an official in the National Security Division of the DOJ. 

"We have learned that the filter agents seized three passports belonging to President Trump, two expired and one being his active diplomatic passport. We are returning them," Bratt told Trump's attorneys Evan Corcoran and Jim Trusty.  

"This is how Fake News works, folks," Budovich reacted to O'Donnell's tweet. "Biden admin actively feeds half truths & lies that the media willingly amplifies—advancing a partisan narrative to attack Trump."

He then asked O'Donnell, "did your ‘source’ read you this email? Did you bother asking if they indeed seized the passports?"

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Trump spokesman added, "This is a perfect example of how the vital institutions of media and justice are being destroyed from within by the lazy, the corrupt, and the ill intent. Sadly, it’s not going to be fixed from the outside. It’s up to the remaining good people within these institutions to expose these bad actors and hold them accountable, or else be complicit in their destruction."

CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. 

For more on this story: Trump spox torches CBS News for claiming FBI did not have former president’s passports

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee asked the White House, FBI, and DOJ on Monday to preserve all documents and communications about the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

"The FBI’s unprecedented raid of President Trump’s residence is a shocking escalation of the Biden Administration’s weaponization of law-enforcement resources against its political opponents," the 18 Republicans wrote. "The American people deserve transparency and accountability from our most senior law-enforcement officials in the executive branch. We will settle for nothing but your complete cooperation with our inquiry."

A Pennsylvania man was arrested for allegedly threatening the FBI on the social media platform Gab in the wake of last week's Mar-a-Lago search.

Adam Bies, 46, was charged with influencing, impeding, or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers.

Under the pseudonym Adam Kenneth Campbell, Bies allegedly wrote that he would "slaughter" officials and compared government agencies to the Nazi SS and the Soviet-era KGB.

"I sincerely believe that if you work for the FBI, then you deserve to DIE," Bies allegedly wrote in a post on Aug. 11.

A bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation was sent to law enforcement agencies on Sunday that warned of an increase in "violent threats" against law enforcement, judiciary and government personnel.

Former President Trump has called for calm in the wake of the search, saying Monday that his team reached out to the Justice Department to offer help.

"People are so angry at what is taking place," Trump told Fox News Digital. "Whatever we can do to help — because the temperature has to be brought down in the country. If it isn’t, terrible things are going to happen."

The Department of Justice filed a motion on Monday opposing the release of the affidavit underlying the search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

"If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps," the DOJ wrote.

"The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly."

The Justice Department told the court that it does not object to unsealing some other documents, including cover sheets for the search warrant and the government's prior motion to seal.

For more on this story: Justice Department opposes release of affidavit justifying FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home

Fox News contributor and former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy shared his legal analysis on the fallout from the FBI's raid on former President Trump's home.

“The issue here is not whether President Trump had a right to have those documents down in Mar-a-Lago. He didn’t under the Presidential Records Act," McCarthy told Fox News on Monday. "The issue is, because the Presidential Records Act is not a criminal statue, whether they should have raised this to DEFCON 5 and sent the FBI… with a search warrant to get the stuff out of his home.”

Former President Donald Trump said the FBI seized three of his passports during its raid on Mar-a-Lago last week, calling the unprecedented search an "assault."

"Wow! In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else," Trump posted on his TRUTH Social account. "This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country."

During the search, FBI agents seized classified records, including some marked as top secret. Trump is disputing the classification of those records, saying the records have been declassified.

For more on this story: Trump says FBI seized three of his passports during raid, calls search an 'assault on a political opponent'

The panel discussed the media's response to the raid amid growing calls for Justice Department transparency surrounding the incident.

Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker called for transparency from the Department of Justice after former President Trump told Fox News Digital the "temperature must be brought down" following the raid at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Whitaker said on "The Faulkner Focus" Monday that there are many questions that still need to be answered about the FBI's "unprecedented" action.

For more on this story: Former AG Whitaker calls for transparency from DOJ to 'lower the temperature' following Mar-a-Lago raid

The 'Fox & Friends' host discusses the threats directed at federal law enforcement following the raid at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

Former U.S. attorney in Utah Brett Tolman joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the White House response to the FBI's raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking about the FBI’s raid at Mar-a-Lago, said government agencies “have now been weaponized to be used against people that the government doesn’t like.” 

DeSantis made the remark Sunday night at a rally for Blake Masters and Kari Lake, two candidates who are running for Senate and governor, respectively, in Arizona. 

“You look at the raid at Mar-a-Lago – I'm just trying to remember, maybe someone here can remind me, when they did a search warrant at Hillary’s house in Chappaqua when she had a rogue server and she was laundering classified information,” DeSantis said. “I don’t remember them doing that.” 

“They are enforcing the law based on who they like and who they don’t like,” he added. “That is not a republic, well it may be it’s a banana republic when that happens.” 

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump said he "will do whatever" he can "to help the country," after the FBI’s raid of his Mar-a-Lago home last week, telling Fox News Digital that the "temperature has to be brought down," while stressing that the American people are "not going to stand for another scam." 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital Monday morning, his first since the raid, Trump said he had his representatives reach out to the Justice Department to offer to help amid outrage over the FBI’s unprecedented raid on his private residence last week, in which agents seized classified records, including some marked as top secret. Trump is disputing the classification of those records, saying the records have been declassified.  

"The country is in a very dangerous position. There is tremendous anger, like I've never seen before, over all of the scams, and this new one—years of scams and witch hunts, and now this," Trump said.

"If there is anything we can do to help, I, and my people, would certainly be willing to do that," Trump said.

For more on this story: Trump 'will do whatever' he can to 'help the country' after FBI raid: 'Temperature has to be brought down'

Former FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam speaks about the confidence and trust in the FBI following the raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines over the weekend seeking details regarding the reason behind the FBI's raid of Mar-a-Lago, Axios reported.

The unprecedented operation at the home of a former U.S. president prompted questions from both parties, and Intel Committee Chairman Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and ranking member Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are hoping to get answers.

"In his remarks, Attorney General Garland claimed there was a substantial public interest in the execution of an unprecedented search warrant on President Trump," Rubio said in a statement to Axios. "As such, the Intelligence Committee has asked the Department of Justice to share with us, on a classified basis, the specific intelligence documents seized from Mar-a-Lago."

For more on this story: Senate Intelligence Committee sends Biden administration bipartisan request for Mar-a-Lago raid details

A bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigations was sent to local and state law enforcement agencies that is warning of increased threats following the FBI's execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago.

The bulletin, according to a law enforcement source, states that there are increased threats of violence against law enforcement, judiciary, and government personnel in response to the FBI's execution of the search warrant at former President Trump's Florida estate.

Since the warrant was executed, the FBI and DHS have seen an increase in "violent threats" against federal officials on social media, including a particular threat to "place a so-called Dirty Bomb in front of FBI headquarters."

"General calls" for "civil war" and "armed rebellion" have also increased in recent days on social media.

According to the bulletin, many of the threats include references to the claim that the 2020 election was stolen, in addition to other perceived claims of government overreach.

Several of the threats are specific, according to the bulletin, which states that "the FBI and DHS have identified multiple articulated threats and calls for the targeted killing of judicial law enforcement and government officials associated with the Palm Beach search, including the Federal judge who approved the Palm Beach search warrant."

Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.