A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice to release a redacted version of the search-warrant affidavit used to justify the raid on former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
The affidavit, which explains why investigators believed there was probably cause to search Trump’s home, must be released by Friday at noon.
U.S. magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who approved the warrant allowing the FBI to search Mar-a-Lago, said in his order that the DOJ had met “its burden of showing that its proposed redactions are narrowly tailored to serve the Government’s legitimate interest in the integrity of the ongoing investigation and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the entire Affidavit,” and that the redacted version would be released on Friday.
Last week, Reinhart had ordered the DOJ to submit their redactions on August 25 after several media outlets, including CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, filed a motion requesting the affidavit to be unsealed.
Reinhart said the DOJ convinced him that some portions of the affidavit should be redacted, as unsealing it fully would reveal “(1) the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, and uncharged parties, (2) the investigation’s strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods, and (3) grand jury information.”
The DOJ had previously refused to unseal the affidavit, arguing that the release would interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Trump filed a lawsuit Monday, the first legal action he has taken over the raid, calling for the review of the seized materials to be stopped until a watchdog is appointed, and for the FBI to return all items not in the scope of the search warrant.
The filing issued by Trump’s attorneys in federal court in Florida said that FBI agents seized photos, handwritten notes, and the former president’s passports — all materials that were not in the search warrant.
The search warrant, which has been released shows that the FBI seized roughly 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note, the executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone, as well as information about French president Emmanuel Macron.