Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Judge Appears Willing to Unveil Some of Mar-a-Lago Affidavit
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
August 19, 2022

Share

 

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to put forward proposed redactions as he committed to making public at least part of the affidavit supportingĀ the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said that under the law, it is the government’s burden to show why a redacted version should not be released and prosecutors’ arguments Thursday failed to persuade him. He gave them a week to submit a copy of the affidavit proposing the information it wants to keep secret after the FBI seized classified and top secret information during a search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last week.

The hearing was convened after several news organizations, including The Associated Press, sought to unseal additional records tied to last weekā€™s search, including the affidavit. It is likely to contain key details about the Justice Departmentā€™s investigation examining whether Trump retained and mishandled classified and sensitive government records.

The Justice Department has adamantly opposed making any portion of the affidavit public, arguing that doing so would compromise its ongoing investigation, would expose the identities of witnesses and could prevent others from coming forward and cooperating with the government.

The attorneys for the news organizations, however, argued that the unprecedented nature of the Justice Department’s investigation warrants public disclosure.

ā€œYou can’t trust what you can’t see,ā€ said Chuck Tobin, a lawyer representing the AP and several other news outlets.

In addition to ordering the redactions, the judge agreed to make public other documents, including the warrant’s cover sheet, the Justice Department’s motion to seal the documents and the judge’s order requiring them to be sealed.

Those documents showed the FBI was specifically investigating the ā€œwillful retention of national defense information,ā€ the concealment or removal of government records and obstruction of a federal investigation.

Jay Bratt, a top Justice Department national security prosecutor, had argued that the affidavit should remain hidden from the public. Unsealing it, he said, would provide a ā€œroad mapā€ of the investigation ā€” which is in its ā€œearly stagesā€ ā€” and expose the next steps to be taken by federal agents and prosecutors.

He argued it was in the public interest for the investigation, including interviews of witnesses, to go forward unhindered.

As the hearing kicked off, a small caravan of vehicles with Trump flags drove past the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida. An attorney for Trump, Christina Bobb, was in the courthouse Thursday but said she was only there to observe the court proceeding.

Bratt argued in court that even a redacted version of the document could reveal investigative steps or create the ability for sleuths or those being eyed in the investigation to identify witnesses in the case. He also contended that the Justice Department had already gone to rare lengths to bring transparency, including making a request for the court to unseal the warrant and property receipt, which were made public last week.

ā€œThere is heightened interest,” he conceded. “This is likely an unprecedented situation.ā€

Trump, in a Truth Social post last week, called for the release of the unredacted affidavit in the interest of transparency.

Reinhart gave the government until next Thursday to submit its version with the proposed redactions along with written arguments for each, going line by line. He said he would then review the proposal and make his own proposed redactions and then may meet with government lawyers to give them a final argument for why specific information should be withheld.

Justice Department attorneys have argued in court filings that the investigation into Trump’s handling of ā€œhighly classified materialā€ is ongoing and that the document contains sensitive information about witnesses.

A recent filing by Bratt and Juan Antonio Gonzalez, the U.S. attorney in Miami, says making the affidavit public would ā€œcause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.ā€

ā€œIf disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the governmentā€™s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,ā€ they wrote.

FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, removing 11 sets of classified documents, with some not only marked top secret but also ā€œsensitive compartmented information,” according toĀ a receipt of what was taken that was released Friday.Ā That is a special category meant to protect the nationā€™s most important secrets that if revealed publicly could cause ā€œexceptionally graveā€ damage to U.S. interests. The court records did not provide specific details about information the documents might contain.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Tesla’s Stock Leaps on Reports of Chinese Approval for the Company’s Driving Software

DON'T MISS

3 Law Officers Killed, 5 Others Wounded Trying to Serve Warrant in North Carolina, Authorities Say

DON'T MISS

Less Alcohol, or None at All, Is One Path to Better Health

DON'T MISS

Trion Supercars Partners with Fresno Schools to Develop Groundbreaking Nemesis Supercar

DON'T MISS

Video Shows Alleged Porchfest Anti-Palestinian Hate Crime

DON'T MISS

More California High School Students Want Career Training. How the State Is Helping

DON'T MISS

Clear Encampment or Face Suspension, Columbia University Tells Israel-Hamas War Protesters

DON'T MISS

Oklahoma Towns Hard Hit by Tornadoes Begin Long Cleanup After 4 Killed in Weekend Storms

DON'T MISS

Ongoing Protests Force Cal Poly Humboldt to Close for the Semester

DON'T MISS

Trump and DeSantis Meet to Make Peace and Discuss Fundraising for the Former President’s Campaign

UP NEXT

Columbia Cancels In-Person Classes as Demonstrations Sprout on US Campuses to Protest Israel War

UP NEXT

Senate Will Convene the Mayorkas Impeachment Trial as Democrats Plot a Quick Dismissal

UP NEXT

Cranes Arriving to Start Removing Wreckage From Deadly Baltimore Bridge Collapse

UP NEXT

Biden ‘Continues to Be Fit for Duty’ His Doctor Says After President’s Annual Exam

UP NEXT

Federal Student Loans for Nearly 153,000 Borrowers Being Canceled, Biden Says

UP NEXT

Fani Willis’ Father Says He Didn’t Know About Willis’ Relationship with Prosecutor Until Recently

UP NEXT

Shooting After Chiefs Super Bowl Parade Seemed to Stem from Dispute Among Several People, Police Say

UP NEXT

Russia Has Obtained a ‘Troubling’ Emerging Anti-Satellite Weapon, The White House Says

UP NEXT

Trump’s New York Hush-Money Case Will Start March 25. Itā€™s the First of His Criminal Trials

UP NEXT

House Intelligence Committee Chair Warns of a Serious National Security Threat

Trion Supercars Partners with Fresno Schools to Develop Groundbreaking Nemesis Supercar

13 hours ago

Video Shows Alleged Porchfest Anti-Palestinian Hate Crime

Crime /

14 hours ago

More California High School Students Want Career Training. How the State Is Helping

Education /

15 hours ago

Clear Encampment or Face Suspension, Columbia University Tells Israel-Hamas War Protesters

16 hours ago

Oklahoma Towns Hard Hit by Tornadoes Begin Long Cleanup After 4 Killed in Weekend Storms

17 hours ago

Ongoing Protests Force Cal Poly Humboldt to Close for the Semester

Education /

17 hours ago

Trump and DeSantis Meet to Make Peace and Discuss Fundraising for the Former President’s Campaign

17 hours ago

United Auto Workers Reaches Deal With Daimler Truck, Averting Potential Strike in North Carolina

17 hours ago

Biden’s Handling of Israel-Gaza Conflict Faces Major Disapproval, CNN Poll Shows

National Elections /

17 hours ago

Putin Likely Didnā€™t Order Death of Russian Opposition Leader Navalny, US Official Says

18 hours ago

Tesla’s Stock Leaps on Reports of Chinese Approval for the Company’s Driving Software

NEW YORK ā€” Shares of Tesla stock rallied Monday after the electric vehicle maker’s CEO, Elon Musk, paid a surprise visit to Beijing ov...

12 hours ago

12 hours ago

Tesla’s Stock Leaps on Reports of Chinese Approval for the Company’s Driving Software

13 hours ago

3 Law Officers Killed, 5 Others Wounded Trying to Serve Warrant in North Carolina, Authorities Say

13 hours ago

Less Alcohol, or None at All, Is One Path to Better Health

13 hours ago

Trion Supercars Partners with Fresno Schools to Develop Groundbreaking Nemesis Supercar

Crime /
14 hours ago

Video Shows Alleged Porchfest Anti-Palestinian Hate Crime

Education /
15 hours ago

More California High School Students Want Career Training. How the State Is Helping

16 hours ago

Clear Encampment or Face Suspension, Columbia University Tells Israel-Hamas War Protesters

17 hours ago

Oklahoma Towns Hard Hit by Tornadoes Begin Long Cleanup After 4 Killed in Weekend Storms

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend