Washington:
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that he had "personally approved" the search of Donald Trump's Florida home, and condemned "unfounded attacks" on the FBI following the unprecedented action against an ex-president.
Garland did not explain the reason for the search, but stressed there was "probable cause" and said he had asked a court to make the case's documents public.
"I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter," he told reporters. "The department does not take such a decision lightly."
The extraordinary FBI raid this week on Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence has sparked a political firestorm in an already bitterly divided country and comes as he is weighing another White House run.
Leading Republicans have rallied around the former president, who was not present when the raid took place.
Trump's former vice president Mike Pence, a potential 2024 rival, expressed "deep concern" and said the raid smacked of "partisanship" by the Justice Department.
Garland criticized "unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors."
Since leaving office, Trump has remained the country's most divisive figure and a force in the Republican party, continuing to sow falsehoods that he actually won the 2020 vote.
Trump also has condemned the raid as politically motivated and a "weaponization" of the Justice Department.
"Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before," Trump said.
Just days after the FBI operation the 76-year-old was questioned for four hours on Wednesday at the Manhattan office of Letitia James, the New York state attorney general, who is investigating the business practices of the Trump Organization.
US media reported that Trump invoked his legal right not to answer questions more than 400 times during that deposition about alleged fraud at his family real estate business.
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