(CNN)A U.S. magistrate, from an affidavit used by the Justice Department to obtain a search warrant, potentially It has begun the process of releasing some information about former President Donald Trump's Florida mansion.
Judge Bruce Reinhart said at a hearing in West His Palm His Beach Court that he plans to release portions of the affidavit. This affidavit has been sought by various media and other organizations.
His announcement provided new, if not very vague, details about Trump's handling of classified documents from the White House, while the Justice Department opposed releasing the documents.
Highlights from the hearing were as follows:
The judge decided to potentially release some of the affidavits.
Reinhart began working Thursday with the release of a heavily redacted version of the affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search. possibility. The judge is expected to hear details from the Justice Department by next Thursday about how extensively investigators want to keep documents describing the procedures and methods of investigations that lead to the need for investigations confidential.
Reinhart said he was not yet convinced that the entire affidavit should remain private.
"I'm not prepared to decide that the affidavit needs to be fully sealed," Reinhart said, adding that there were "portions" that could be unsealed. .
Prosecutors will have the opportunity to suggest redactions and explain why each piece of information should be kept hidden from the public eye, he said, Mr Reinhart.
Reinhart said he may then hold additional confidential discussions with the Justice Department before making a decision on transparency.
Unsealed documents draw attention to Trump, who may be subject to criminal investigation
} Previously, search warrant documents listed only federal law, including a broad range of laws known as espionage laws. And the documents released so far reveal that Trump and those around him face potential legal exposures, including possible obstruction of justice.
41} However, the specific wording of “deliberate retention” may refer to the role of the former president, who during his tenure would have been empowered to possess defense documents, even though he was private. Palm Beach, Florida, after the club and residence.The newly unsealed documents were part of a warrant application and he was one of the primarily procedural documents the judge opened Thursday.
According to the DOJ, the affidavit describes how evidence of interference was found at Mar-a-Lago
Justice Department attorneys said at the hearing that the affidavit of presumed cause was used to obtain a warrant that explained how prosecutors would find "evidence of obstruction" on Florida property. The possible crimes it has uncovered are under investigation. They will be found at the a-Lago," said Attorney General Jay Bratt. Department's Counterintelligence Division.
Obstruction of justice is one of his three statutes listed in Mar-a-Lago's search warrant, which was unsealed last week, and Reinhart said at Thursday's hearing that he had violated the terms. rice field.
Bratt sought to underscore his DOJ's concern that future witnesses may be unwilling to provide information if too much is revealed about the investigation so far. commented on the interference under investigation.
DOJ said the affidavit was long and detailed and contained "substantial grand jury information."
Bratt said: Revealing other details about the affidavit, he said that it was long, detailed, and "substantial grand jury information." He said it would also "provide a roadmap to the investigation" and indicate the next steps in the investigation.
While acknowledging that there is a public interest in transparency, Bratt said there is "another public interest" in allowing criminal investigations to proceed unimpeded.
A caveat about withering witnesses is that the investigation revealed several things:
, as warned that this and in the future could have a chilling effect on witnesses participating in the investigation, he revealed that several witnesses were already part of the document investigation. Bratt said some of the witnesses had very specific relevant information that, if released, would reveal who they were.
Bratt also expressed concern about the risks facing the FBI since news of the Mar-a-Lago search broke, including recent confrontations at the FBI field office in Cincinnati and "amateur detectives" on the Internet.
He told the judge that if other documents were made public, the DOJ wanted to redact even background information about agents who have worked on the issue thus far.
Trump's lawyers declined to comment in court on the release of the documents
Trump's lawyers attended hearings, but Nor was she asked to weigh in during the proceedings.Attorney Christina Bob told reporters before the hearing that she was there to attend.
Trump has not been officially involved in the controversy surrounding the release of the warrant documents. Earlier, when the Justice Department asked the judge to open the warrant itself and the search receipt, the judge instructed the State Department to confer with Trump and tell the court whether Trump opposed releasing the documents.
Ahead of Thursday's hearing, the judge set a 9:00 a.m. ET deadline for parties to submit submissions corresponding to DOJ's submissions in the dispute. It is noteworthy that Trump's team had not attempted to formally engage in the dispute by then, as he and his allies had expressed a desire to release warrant documents out of court.
Nonetheless, some of Bob's public statements about the search came before Reinhart on Thursday. Charles Tobin noted that Bob had already provided information about the FBI subpoena for the Mar-a-Lago surveillance tapes, and that DOJ officials visited in March. -a-Lago he in June.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
