- The Justice Department has released poorly redacted documents supporting the search warrant in Mar-a-Lago.
- A judge ordered the release of a lightly redacted FBI affidavit after media outlets filed a motion for it to be unsealed.
- Trump has been arraigned and indicted in the case, and the case could drag on beyond the 2024 election.
The Justice Department on Wednesday released a redacted version of the FBI affidavit supporting last year’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Judge Bruce Reinhart approved his release early Wednesday.
Many of the fresh, unredacted details were included in the Justice Department’s unprecedented indictment of former President Donald Trump last month. Those details were redacted in the first version of the affidavit released last year shortly after the Mar-a-Lago search and before Trump was formally indicted.
One of the newly revealed items in the affidavit showed a photo of a box of papers stacked in a storage unit on page 16, compared to the version first released to the public. rice field. The photo appeared in an indictment that was unsealed on June 9. Next to the photo was an agent’s comment that President Trump has more classified documents and estimates there are 61 boxes.
A poorly redacted affidavit also explains how investigators were allowed to search for CCTV footage of the area where the storage unit was located. The affidavit states that it determined that people were able to enter the vault without being discovered and that footage of people leaving with the boxes was observed.
The document explains in more detail why the FBI determined there was a “probable cause” for documents containing classified material to remain on the premises.
Reinhardt ordered the release of the poorly redacted affidavit on Wednesday, following requests from numerous news outlets.
However, he refused to unseal the entire affidavit, stating, “The government has determined that the proposed redacted affidavit was strictly tailored to serve the government’s legitimate interests and that the entire investigation is sealed.” We are doing our duty to show that this is the least burdensome alternative to doing so,” agreed with the Department of Justice’s view. Warrant affidavit. ”
In August 2022, the FBI seized a box containing Mar-a-Lago documents that the National Archives was searching. At the time, Trump was at a golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
In a subsequent legal filing, the Justice Department said the search was part of a criminal investigation into whether President Trump violated laws such as the Espionage Act and obstructed justice. Among the records obtained in the search were top-secret national security information.
Trump was indicted on June 9 in a document case and was arraigned on June 13 in federal court in Miami, pleading “not guilty.” His aide, Waltin Nauta, is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
Of the 37 charges against Mr. Trump, 31 are allegations of violating the Espionage Act for the purpose of “intentional retention of national defense information.” According to the indictment, Trump also conspired to obstruct justice, lied to law enforcement, and violated three different statutes on withholding and concealing government records.
Prosecutors allege that President Trump violated federal law when he removed classified documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago instead of depositing them with the National Archives. The National Archives had apparently found the missing records and was seeking their return.