Newsweek blasted for incorrectly claiming Merrick Garland didn’t know about the FBI’s Trump raid

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Twitter users blasted Newsweek Thursday after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s admission that he approved the FBI’s unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump contradicted their previous reporting.

On Wednesday, Newsweek reported: “The senior Justice Department Source says that Garland was regularly briefed on the Records Act investigation, and that he knew about the grand jury and what material federal prosecutors were seeking. He insists, though, that Garland had no prior knowledge of the date and time of the specific raid, nor was he asked to approve it [emphasis added].”

ATTORNEY GENERAL GARLAND GAVE GREEN LIGHT ON MAR-A-LAGO SEARCH WARRANT, SAYS NOT ‘TAKEN LIGHTLY’

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks to announce a team to conduct a critical incident review of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, during a media availability at the Department of Justice , Wednesday, June 8, 2022, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, slammed Newsweek on Twitter after Garland’s remarks, retweeting another user who posted a link and screenshot from the article with the comment, “According to Newsweek, the Mar-a-Lago search was not approved by Garland; Wray approved it, but Garland was not asked to do so. That strikes me as kinda remarkable.”

“More proof, not that you needed any, that the corporate media is full of liars and morons,” Davis wrote. 

“It took 3 days to go from: ‘He knew nothing!’ to ‘Praise be that Garland personally approved raiding the home of the man who blocked him from being on SCOTUS!’” he continued.

“So Garland just contradicted this report,” Chris Pandolfo, curation editor for Blaze media, tweeted.

Former Obama NSC spokesman turned “Pod Save America” host Tommy Vietor, tweeted, “So the Newsweek ‘scoop’ that Garland had no advanced knowledge of the FBI raid is utter bullshit (no surprise there).”

Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, speaks during the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images) (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD SAYS FBI’S RAID OF TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO RESIDENCE IS ‘DANGEROUS’

Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter who often covers Trump, acknowledged that Garland’s presser “throws cold water on a Newsweek story.”

Donald Trump has been the target of various investigations, political and legal, since first declaring his candidacy for president in 2015. In 2017, at the start of his administration, then FBI Director James Comey presented Trump with the now discredited Steele Dossier, which was paid for by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign through law firm Perkins Coie. The debunked allegations in the dossier led to the prolonged Russia-collusion probe, which dogged the first half of the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump holds up a newspaper with the headline that reads “ACQUITTED” at the 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast, at the Washington Hilton, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Congressional Democrats attempted to impeach Trump twice, including once after he left office. On both occasions, Trump was acquitted. Trump also was deposed by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who campaigned on prosecuting Trump and called his presidency “illegitimate,” in a civil suit earlier this week.

Politicians, such as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., also got it wrong. Hours before Garland spoke, Whitehouse tweeted an attempt to answer questions about the Trump raid. “Oh, let me try! Here we go: 1. ‘Did Attorney General Merrick Garland personally sign off on this action?’ Answer: Likely not, as FBI has procedures for clearing this sort of thing, but he’d likely be notified,” he said.

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, responded quoting Garland saying, “I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.”

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Trump is the leading potential candidate for the GOP nomination in 2024 by far, and the Real Clear Politics average shows him defeating President Joe Biden by three percentage points. Both conservative allies and even some liberal critics have criticized the FBI’s raid as politically motivated. 

Joe Silverstein is a production assistant for Fox News Digital.