A judge on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to release a redacted version of the affidavit it relied on when federal agents searched former President Donald Trump’s property for classified documents.
Judge Bruce Reinhart’s directive was released hours after federal law enforcement officials submitted the parts of the affidavit they want to keep secret as the investigation progresses.
The judge set a Friday noon deadline to release a redacted version of the document.
The order means the public could soon get at least some additional details about why FBI officials searched Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 as part of an investigation into classified documents held at the Palm Beach property. .
Documents already made public show that the FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents from the property, including information marked with the level of top secret.
Search warrant affidavits typically contain vital information about an investigation, with agents explaining in detail why they want to search a particular property and why they believe they are likely to find evidence of a possible crime. In this case, however, the DOJ’s proposed redactions are likely to be extensive, given the sensitivity of the investigation and the unprecedented nature of the event.
In his Thursday order, Reinhart said the department had made a compelling case for blacking out large areas of the document that, if released, would reveal information about the grand jury; the identities of witnesses and “non-accused parties”; and details about the “strategy, direction, scope, sources and methods” of the investigation.
But he also said he was satisfied “that the government has done its job of showing that the proposed redactions are designed to serve the legitimate interest of the government and the integrity of the ongoing investigation.”
