publish the redacted affidavit on Mar-a-Lago

() –– The Justice Department released an edited version of the affidavit on the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago on Friday. Federal investigators used this document to convince a judge that there was probable cause that crimes were committed, clearing the way for the Mar-a-Lago search to be authorized.

Thus, the agency complies with the deadline imposed by a federal judge to reveal the redacted version of the affidavit on the registry. Federal prosecutors said the redactions were necessary to protect cooperating witnesses and to keep grand jury information secret.

Trump reacted on his social network Truth Social to the publication of the redacted affidavit. And he called it “a total public relations stunt by the FBI and the Justice Department.” He also shared an audio on that platform in which he says, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The audio appears to have been recorded before the affidavit was released Friday, as part of an interview Trump gave Lou Dobbs on his podcast, “The Great America Show.” “I didn’t do anything wrong… We were essentially attacked. They robbed us. They opened safes, they brought in safecrackers. They brought in many, many FBI agents, all just before the midterms and all when I got top poll results I’ve had,” he said. “This is an embarrassment to our country…and it really never ends,” Trump said.

There could be “evidence of obstruction,” according to FBI affidavit

The release of the affidavit comes a day after Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the Justice Department to release a redacted version of the document. The edits in the version released Friday were proposed by the Justice Department and accepted by Reinhart.

In seeking permission to search Mar-a-Lago, the FBI told a judge there was “probable cause to believe” that classified national security materials were improperly taken to “unauthorized” locations at former President Donald Trump’s club. Also that a search would likely find “evidence of obstruction”.

“There is probable cause to believe that additional documents containing classified (National Defense information) or that are presidential records subject to retention requirements currently remain at (Mar-a-Lago),” the FBI affidavit states. “There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at (Mar-a-Lago),” the affidavit continues.

What does the redacted affidavit say?

The affidavit states that the initial FBI investigation determined that classified documents containing national security information were stored in an “unauthorized location” at Mar-a-Lago.

“The FBI investigation established that documents with classification marks, which appear to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were among the materials contained in the 15 BOXES and were stored on the FACILITY at a location unauthorized,” it reads.

The “15 boxes” are a reference to the 15 containers of material that were removed from Mar-a-Lago in January. And “the facility” refers to Trump’s resort and personal residence at Mar-a-Lago.

Federal investigators also cited former President Donald Trump’s residential suite, his “Office 45” and other locations at Mar-a-Lago in the document. The agent who drafted the statement also wrote that none of the spaces in the Trump residence had been authorized for the storage of classified information.

“Based on this investigation, I believe that the STORAGE ROOM, the former President’s residential suite, Pine Hall, ‘Office 45,’ and other spaces within the FACILITY are not currently authorized locations for the storage of classified information or NDI,” supports the affidavit. “Likewise, based on this investigation, I do not believe that any space within the FACILITY has been authorized for the storage of classified information since at least the end of the Presidential Administration of the former President on January 20, 2021.”

Affidavit raises questions about the “absolute authority of the president to declassify documents”

The redacted pages of the affidavit with which the FBI obtained the registration to the Mar-a-Lago property of former President Donald Trump. (Credit: Jon Elswick/AP)

The affidavit also shows that federal investigators addressed the issue of a president’s authority to declassify documents, though much of that section is redacted.

The document says former President Trump’s attorney asked the Justice Department to “consider some ‘principles,’ including claims that the president has ‘absolute authority to declassify documents.'”

The affidavit also cites a claim by Kash Patel, a former Trump national security aide who was appointed as a National Archives appointee in June. The investigator who wrote the affidavit cited a May article from the right-wing website Breitbart, in which Patel claimed that reports that the National Archives found classified material at Mar-a-Lago were “misleading” because Trump had declassified the materials.

However, the rest of the affidavit section is redacted. So it’s not clear why federal investigators cited Patel’s comments.

Since the FBI record, Trump has pointed to a January 19, 2021, memorandum in which he declassified documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. However, there is no evidence that those materials were what the FBI was looking for when it raided Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.

The goal of the criminal investigation against Trump

The document notes that the FBI opened a criminal investigation after the National Archives sent a notice on February 9. The affidavit details four main goals of the criminal investigation.

1. To “determine how documents bearing classification marks and records were removed from the White House (or any other authorized location for the storage of classified materials) and came to be stored in [Mar-a-Lago]”.
2. To “determine whether the storage locations in [Mar-a-Lago] They were authorized places to store classified information.
3. To “determine whether additional classified documents or records may have been stored in an unauthorized location in [Mar-a-Lago] or in another unknown place, and if they remain in said place”.
4. To “identify any person who has removed or retained classified information without authorization and/or in an unauthorized space”.

Justice Department: Affidavit Contains Details That Could Affect Others Than Trump

Moments before releasing the redacted affidavit, the Justice Department released a legal brief on its reasons for redacting various parts of the document. Among them, protect privacy interests.

Although former President Trump had publicly mentioned the record, the affidavit contains “additional information about others that could affect the privacy and reputational interests of these individuals if disclosed,” the department said.

And he laid out that rationale for those edits by noting that “premature disclosure of investigative information creates a risk that people who are charged but exonerated” could “be publicly ridiculed.”