By Maureen Chowdhury, Elise Hammond, Aditi Sangal, Adrienne Vogt, Melissa Macaya and Meg Wagner, CNN
From CNN's Tierney Sneed
The Justice Department has been instructed by a federal court in Florida to confer with former President Donald Trump about its request to unseal certain warrant documents from the FBI Mar-a-Lago search.
The court must be told by 3 p.m. ET on Friday if Trump opposes the release.
From CNN staff
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday said that the Justice Department had filed a request in court to unseal the search warrant and property receipt from the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Read the motion:
From CNN's Zachary Cohen
The Justice Department has officially moved to unseal the search warrant executed by the FBI this week at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, according to newly filed court documents.
“On August 8, 2022, the Department of Justice executed a search warrant, issued by this Court upon the requisite finding of probable cause… at the premises located at 1100 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach, Florida 33480, a property of former President Donald J. Trump,” the motion reads.
“At the time the warrant was initially executed, the Department provided notice directly to former President Trump’s counsel. The Department did not make any public statements about the search, and the search apparently attracted little or no public attention as it was taking place. Later that same day, former President Trump issued a public statement acknowledging the execution of the warrant. In the days since, the search warrant and related materials have been the subject of significant interest and attention from news media organizations and other entities,” the Justice Department writes.
The DOJ then argues for unsealing the search warrant, citing “the intense public interest presented by a search of a residence of a former President.”
The filing confirms that the search warrant was “signed and approved by the Court on August 5." On Thursday, the DOJ filed "the redacted Property Receipt listing items seized pursuant to the search," according to its unsealing motion.
"Former President Trump, through counsel, was provided copies of each of these documents on August 8, 2022, as part of the execution of the search,” the filing adds.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that the Department of Justice filed a motion to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating to the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property.
CNN's legal analyst Elie Honig described the announcement as a "remarkable and unusual move" because "we essentially saw Merrick Garland call Donald Trump's bluff."
In the wake of this search warrant, Trump and his lawyers have two documents, Honig explained on CNN following Garland's remarks. "One is the search warrant itself with whatever attachments. And the other is this inventory or this receipt."
These documents have important information about the search. Usually, the Justice Department's policy is to only speak about things that are on the record with the court. But with this move, Garland is hoping to put these documents in front of Americans, Honig said.
The warrant typically will list logistical information: place to be searched, a general description of items to be searched for, the name of the judge, a deadline by which the DOJ has to execute the search.
But it also sometimes has an attachment, which typically will list the laws that the DOJ has probable cause to believe were violated.
The second document is the inventory or the receipt.
"It's a listing. The FBI says, 'here are the items that were removed from Mar-a-Lago.' Again, degrees of specificity and generality tend to vary. I do not expect that to have a piece of paper by piece of paper breakdown if they took thousands of pages," Honig explains. "I think what we're going to see is listings like X number of boxes. If they took any electronic documents, if they took any laptops, cell phones, that kind of thing."
However, Honig notes that we will not see the affidavit, which is the most detailed document, that can be 20 to 100 pages where prosecutors lay out details that give them probable cause to believe laws were violated.
That document will remain confidential, and typically, that is released if and when there is a charge, Honig explains.
"If somebody gets searched and then indicted, then they will be given a copy of that affidavit ... so that that person can then challenge it in court," he said.
WATCH: CNN Elie Honig breaks down how Merrick Garland just called Donald Trump's bluff
Attorney General Merrick Garland also addressed "unfounded attacks on the Justice Department agents and prosecutors," in the wake of the search of Mar-a-Lago on Monday and an attempted breach of the FBI’s field office in Cincinnati on Thursday.
"I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. Every day, they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safe guarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to work alongside them," Garland said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said that he "personally approved" the decision to seek a warrant for the FBI to search former President Trump's Florida home at Mar-a-Lago.
"The department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken," Garland said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said all Americans are entitled to the "even-handed application of the law" and much of the work of the Justice Department is done out of the public eye in order to protect the integrity of investigations.
"Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear or favor," he said.
He said these are the principles officials at the DOJ are operating under.
"Much of our work is by necessity conducted out of the public eye. We do that to protect the Constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations," he said, adding ethical rules prevent him from providing further details about the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property.
The warrant for federal agents to search former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago earlier this week was authorized by a federal court, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
"The search warrant was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause," he told reporters on Thursday.
"Copies of both the warrant and the FBI property receipt were provided on the day of the search to the former President's counsel who was on site during the search," he added.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Department of Justice filed a motion to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating to the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property.
"Just now, 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," Garland said.
The FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. It came months after federal investigators served an earlier grand jury subpoena and took away sensitive national security documents from Trump’s property during a June meeting, people familiar with the matter tell CNN.
The search was the first time in American history that a former President's home was searched as part of a criminal investigation.