The Justice Department asked a court to keep an affidavit linked to the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago sealed over concerns that it could harm their investigation, Politico reports.
Former President Trump on Truth Social demanded that the FBI release the affidavit submitted to a federal magistrate judge detailing the probable cause evidence that he likely committed a crime.
“There is no way to justify the unannounced RAID of Mar-a-Lago, the home of the 45th President of the United States (who got more votes, by far, than any sitting President in the history of our Country!), by a very large number of gun toting FBI Agents, and the Department of ‘Justice’ but, in the interest of TRANSPARENCY, I call for the immediate release of the completely Unredacted Affidavit pertaining to this horrible and shocking BREAK-IN,” Trump wrote. “Also, the Judge on this case should recuse!”
DOJ opposed:
The DOJ in a court filing on Monday asked the judge who signed off on the warrant to keep the warrant under wraps as it releases other documents related to the raid.
“If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,” U.S. Attorney Juan Gonzalez and Justice Department counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt wrote in the filing.
“The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly,” the filing said.
Witness concerns:
The FBI received information from an informant on the inside about the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
The DOJ expressed concerns in the filing that releasing the affidavit could prevent other witnesses from coming forward “given the high-profile nature of this matter.”
“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,” the filing said. “This is not merely a hypothetical concern, given the widely reported threats made against law enforcement personnel in the wake of the August 8 search.”
