A US judge said Thursday he was inclined to release some of the evidence presented by the US Justice Department to justify its search of Donald Trump’s Florida home last week, in a case pitting organizations against news against federal prosecutors.
Despite the Justice Department’s objections, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said he believes “there are parts of the affidavit that could be disclosed,” referring to the affidavit showing evidence of why there was probable cause to search the Mar-a-Trump. Lake station
Reinhart ordered the Justice Department to submit a redacted version of the sealed affidavit by noon next Thursday, but said the Justice Department will have an opportunity to appeal if prosecutors disagree with its proposed version.
The judge’s order appeared to mark a victory for the media, which appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach on Thursday to persuade the judge that the public interest in the affidavit outweighs the benefits of keeping it sealed.
The Department of Justice objects to the disclosure of the evidence.
Jay Bratt, the head of the department’s counterintelligence and export control section, told the judge Thursday that releasing the affidavit is not in the public interest because it could prejudice the ongoing investigation.
“There is another public interest at stake and it is the public interest that criminal investigations can proceed unhindered,” he said.
The search was part of a federal probe into whether Trump illegally removed documents when he left office in January 2021 after losing the presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
The Justice Department is investigating violations of three laws, including a provision of the Espionage Act that prohibits the possession of national defense information and another statute that makes it a crime to knowingly destroy, conceal or falsify documents with the intent to obstruct an investigation.
A vehicle with flags in support of Donald Trump drives outside the Paul G. Rogers Federal Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday. Lawyers for the nation’s largest media companies filed their case before a federal judge to make public the affidavit supporting a warrant that allowed FBI agents to search the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. (Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)
Media press to release records
Lawyers for several media outlets, including The New York Times, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, ABC News and NBC News, told Reinhart on Thursday that the public’s right to know and the historical significance of the research outweigh any arguments to keep records. sealed
“The public could not have a more compelling interest in ensuring maximum transparency about this event,” said Charles Tobin, one of the lawyers defending the media companies.
Trump, speaking on social media, has asked the court to unseal the unredacted version of the affidavit “in the interest of transparency.”
But none of his lawyers have filed any motions asking the West Palm Beach federal court to do so. His lawyer Christina Bobb, however, was present in the courtroom on Thursday to observe the proceedings.
The former president says the search was politically motivated. He has also said, without providing evidence, that he had a standing order to declassify the documents in question.
However, none of the three laws cited by the Justice Department in the search warrant require proof that the documents were in fact classified.
Threats against FBI agents have increased since the raid.
In Ohio last week, police shot and killed a gunman after he tried to break into an FBI building. Meanwhile, a second man in Pennsylvania has been charged with making threats against FBI agents.
Witness safety is a concern, Justice Department says
Bratt said Thursday that the two officers whose names appeared in a leaked, unredacted copy of the order have also received threats.
In addition, he said, the Justice Department “is very concerned about the safety of the witnesses in the case.”
Trump’s rhetoric against the FBI has stuck with Republican voters, 54 percent of whom say federal law enforcement officials have acted irresponsibly in the case, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week .
The Mar-a-Lago search marked a significant escalation in one of the many federal and state investigations Trump has faced since his time in office and into private businesses. The former Republican president has suggested he might run for the White House again in 2024, but has made no commitments.
LOOK | Trump under investigation for Espionage Act violations:
Trump under investigation for Espionage Act violations, FBI search warrant reveals
A US federal judge revealed the search warrant used at former US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The Justice Department released a short list of what FBI agents seized, which included 20 boxes of papers that could violate US espionage laws.
Last week, US Attorney General Merrick Garland took the highly unusual step of publicly approving the search warrant, two attachments and a redacted version of the receipt showing the items the FBI seized during his search on August 8.
Records showed the FBI seized boxes containing 11 sets of classified material, some of which were labeled “top secret,” the highest level of classification reserved for U.S. national security information. closely guarded
These documents are usually kept in special government facilities because disclosure could cause serious harm to national security.
Earlier this week, the Justice Department said it is open to releasing some additional redacted materials from the warrant, including cover sheets, the government’s sealing motion and the court’s sealing order.
The media in the case have asked that these records be discarded as well.
At the start of Thursday’s proceedings, Reinhart said he would seal those other parts of the documents with some redactions.