WEST PALM BEACH — On Thursday, a federal judge released to the Justice Department at least a portion of the probable cause affidavit used in the search of former President Donald Trump's Florida property. I ordered
``In my initial careful review. Justice of the Peace Bruce Reinhart said after hearings he claimed could expose.
Mr Reinhart said he would "give the government a full and fair chance" to redact the document and ordered the redacted version to be submitted by next Thursday. If he agrees to edit it, order its release, or if he disagrees, hold closed hearings with the government. , argued that it contained "substantial grand jury" information in a "unique" case with "national security nuances" and therefore needed to be completely covered up.
He also said the government was "extremely concerned about the safety of witnesses" if their affidavits were opened, which could put their identities in jeopardy. Bratt noted that "amateur detectives on the Internet". "Personal information may be found." citing last week's nail gun attack on the Cincinnati FBI building by Trump supporters outraged by the "It's a precarious situation with regards to the search," Blatt said, adding, "especially on one side." He said the search warrant executed at the former president's home was a matter of enormous public interest and that the affidavit should be opened. He called it "one of the most significant law enforcement events in the nation's history." rice field.
James Moon, a lawyer for the conservative group Judicial Watch, said the government could black out parts of the document. "I don't think anyone is asking us to open the floodgates," he said.
Trump's attorney Christina Bob also appeared in court for the lawsuit, but she made no allegations.
Mr Reinhart did not oppose the DOJ unsealing some innocent documents related to the warrant,but vehemently opposed making the affidavit } and scheduled a hearing for Tuesday. public.
Department attorneys said the release of documents showing evidence of a crime that may have served as the basis for a search warrant request "could cause serious and irreparable damage to ongoing criminal investigations." has potential," he said.
“The affidavit, if disclosed, would act as a roadmap to the government's ongoing investigation, and would serve in ways that would very likely undermine future investigative procedures. We will provide specific details about possible courses,” they wrote. It warned that it could also affect the cooperation of witnesses.
Trump and his lawyers publicly requested that the affidavit be opened for "transparency," but did not provide court documents arguing for its release.
The hearing was granted after a group of news outlets, including NBC News, submitted court documents . An unprecedented search warrant has been executed at the former president's residence.
"[N] Since the Nixon administration, the federal government has never exercised its authority to seize records from a former president in such an official manner," the filing said, adding, "These Understanding the unprecedented event "weights the unsealing" of the entire record filed with this court.
The FBI announced on Aug. executed a search warrant against the property of A copy of the search warrant and property receipts opened by Reinhart at the government's request on Friday showed agents had removed 11 sets of classified documents from him. A document containing several labeled confidential and confidential.
According to documents attached to the search warrant, investigators found "evidence illegally possessed in violation of three statutes, including parts of the Espionage Act, contraband, criminal offenses, and other was searching for "physical documents and records that made up the items of According to the Department of Justice website, the section cited in the search warrant is "activities such as the collection, transmission to unauthorized persons, or loss of information relating to national defense, and conspiracy to commit such crimes."
Investigators were still reviewing the documents on Wednesday, a source told NBC News
. Told. Trump denied wrongdoing.