Judge orders to make public the reasons for the raid on Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago

First modification: 08/26/2022 – 04:47

Florida federal judge Bruce Reinhart issued an order to the United States Department of Justice to reveal an affidavit supporting the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. This decision could reveal details about the investigation and evidence previously obtained by the Government.

A Justice Department spokesman confirmed that prosecutors presented the judge with a sealed copy of the affidavit with the proposed redactions. Reinhart was the one who approved the Justice Department order before the house was raided by the FBI.

The affidavit involves the evidence that led the Justice Department to determine probable cause to request the search warrant.

Despite the request for deposition, the judge admitted that the Department had reasons not to reveal all the details since there were parts that had to be kept secret, such as the identity of the witnesses and the federal agents, the government’s strategy and Grand Jury material.

Reinhart said that “the Government has met its burden to demonstrate that its proposed wordings are closely 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.”

According to some reports, the FBI found at Mar-a-Lago more than 20 boxes containing 11 sets of classified government records, some of which were labeled “top secret.” The search is part of a federal investigation that seeks to determine if the former president took documents from the White House and illegally kept them in his house when he left office in January 2021, in addition to verifying if he obstructed the investigation of the Government.

Agents are investigating possible violations of three different federal laws, including one that regulates the collection, transmission or loss of defense information under the Espionage Act, according to documents already made public. The others deal with the concealment, mutilation, or elimination of records and the destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations.

The former president called the investigation “political retaliation”

Donald Trump has accused the FBI of wanting to smear him as a form of political retaliation. After these accusations, Attorney General Merrick Garland decided to confirm that there was an investigation against the former president and asked the Court to release the search warrant and the receipt where the seized items appear.

Prosecutors asked Judge Reinhart not to release the documents to the media, as this would harm the investigation, could hamper the cooperation of witnesses and put the safety of FBI agents at risk.

Precisely the media initiated a complaint so that the documents are revealed for reasons of national interest. In addition, they said that “at a minimum, any part of the brief that recites those facts about the investigation, without revealing additional ones not yet publicly available – as well as any other part that does not pose a threat to the investigation – should be unsealed.”

Trump seeks the appointment of an independent expert witness to review the documents to determine if there is material protected under the executive privilege that grants presidents to protect certain information. This figure has never been used outside the White House, since no former president has released documents upon his departure from power.

Trump’s legal team has until this Friday to present an explanation of what measures the former president is seeking and why the request should not be sent to Reinhart, who is in charge of the case.

With Reuters and EFE