Judge Rules Parts Of Search Warrant Affidavit Can Be Released, Orders DOJ To Submit Redacted Affidavit

Media organizations brought this lawsuit for the affidavit in support of the search warrant for the former guy’s home in exile in Mar-a-Lago.

The federal magistrate must weigh the competing interests of transparency under the First Amendment, and the need for secrecy in Department of Justice criminal investigations to protect sources and methods in ongoing investigations, and yes, even the constitutional rights of suspects.

It is importat to note that Donald Trump’s incompetent lawyers did not file any motion in this lawsuit, despite the former guy’s bloviating in right-wing media how badly he wants the affidavit released unredacted.

Well, of course he does, for nefarious purposes. He wants to know who the “insider” FBI informants are so he can retaliate against them by sicking his violent MAGA/QAnon thugs on them by use of stochastic terrorism. “What? What did I say? I only suggested that snitches get stitches for betraying the boss. How was I to know my gang of thugs would attack them and their families?” (wink and a nod).

Trump also wants the unredacted affidavit because it is a roadmap of the DOJ’s national security Espionage Act investigation. That would be of use to a competent attorney, if he could ever find one willing to work for him for free (because he always stiffs his lawyers).

Donald Trump is not going to get an unredacted affidavit in support of the search warrant, and neither are media organizations, because there is an ongoing national security Espionage Act investigation, and the juge is not going to put methods and sources in jeopardy. Donald Trump will get an unredacted version of the affiffidavit when he has been charged as a criminal defendant as part of the DOJ’s production of evidence to defense counsel.

Trump’s bloviating that his Fourth Amendment search and seizure rights have been violated are complete and total nonsense. This search was done by the book, with an extra level of attention paid to checking all the boxes because this search warrant was for an ex-president, one known to be litigious for publicity – and for grifting off his supporters. The FBI fully anticipated being attacked by this mob boss and demagogue.

The redacted affidavit will play into the demagogue’s hands. Very little will be disclosed, and he and his propagandists in the right-wing media will point to all the blackout redactions and cast aspersions on the FBI, “what are they hiding?”

Trump may come to regret the release of even the redacted version of the affidavit, because this judge appears inclined to allow the factual details of the criminal charges detailed in the search warrant to be disclosed, without jeopardizing methods and sources or disclosing details of the ongoing investigation.

With that said, CBS News reports, Judge suggests portions of Trump search affidavit could “presumptively be unsealed”:

The federal magistrate judge who authorized the FBI search warrant of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence said he could release portions of the underlying affidavit to the public, pending proposed redactions by federal prosecutors.

Judge Bruce Reinhart said Thursday he was “not prepared to find the affidavit should be fully sealed,” during a court hearing between members of the media and the Justice Department.

“There are portions of it that could, at least, presumptively be unsealed.”

Media organizations including The New York Times, CBS News and others asked the court to unseal the affidavit, arguing the affidavit’s release would help the public determine if the Justice Department had legitimate reasons for the search. Trump, too, has called for the release of the unredacted affidavit, though his lawyers have not been entered as interested parties in the court proceedings.

The judge gave prosecutors one week to file their proposed redactions to the affidavit – which likely contains a more detailed accounting of the reasons behind last week’s Mar-a-Lago search — and said he will make a decision after that.

Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s National Security Division said they opposed the release of the affidavit “to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security.”

That investigation is examining Trump’s handling of presidential records after the National Archives and Records Administration said in January it had retrieved 15 boxes of presidential records, some of which contained classified national security material, from Mar-a-Lago, and asked the Justice Department to look into the matter.

The Justice Department, with the approval of Attorney General Merrick Garland, sought the search warrant that resulted in the Aug. 6 law enforcement action at Trump’s resort. Reinhart, who has seen the affidavit and examined any evidence from investigators, authorized the search warrant on Aug. 5. He told the court Thursday that in approving the government’s warrant, “all the information that the court relied upon is in the affidavit.”

Newly unsealed court documents revealed more about the exact laws investigators say may have been broken: “18 U.S.C. § 793 Willful retention of national defense information; 18 U.S.C. § 2071 Concealment or removal of government records; and 18 U.S.C. § 1519 Obstruction of federal investigation.”

Last week, the court unsealed the warrant itself with the consent of both Trump’s lawyers and federal prosecutors, an unusual move spurred by the former president’s public acknowledgment of the FBI search.

The media outlets argued that the affidavit and all other documents related to the investigation should be unsealed, based on the intense public interest in the case.

In court on Thursday, Jay Bratt, the high-ranking Justice Department official spearheading the probe, responded, “There is another public interest at stake: that criminal investigations are able to go forward.”

Releasing the affidavit, he argued, would interfere with the investigation, which Bratt said is “in its very early stages.”

But the media contended that at least a redacted version should be released because it could satisfy both the public interest in the case and investigators’ intent in continuing the probe unencumbered.

“We, the people, are the ultimate stakeholders,” Chuck Tobin said on behalf of the media organizations. “Transparency serves the public interest in understanding the results. You cannot trust what you cannot see.”

“You are standing in for the public. You are the gatekeeper,” Tobin said to the judge, who has since received threats from far-right internet trolls after finding “probable cause” to authorize the Trump warrant.

“I am inclined to say I am not going to seal the entire document,” Reinhart revealed in court Thursday.

He issued an order saying, “I find that on the present record the Government has not met its burden of showing that the entire affidavit should remain sealed.”

Reinhart ordered the Justice Department to propose redactions to the affidavit by next Thursday, after which, “I will issue a judgment accordingly,” Reinhart said.

“I may agree with the government and we may be done. I may not agree.” 

Federal investigators are looking into allegations that Trump mishandled classified information after improperly bringing documents from the White House to the Florida estate.

[On] Thursday, Trump circulated on social media an order from January 2021, shortly before he left office, in which he declassified federal material tied to the FBI’s investigation into alleged ties between Trump and Russia. It is not clear whether these were among the documents were found in the Aug. 8 search at Mar-a-Lago.

I really hope these revelations from this reporting don’t get lost. Trump & Meadows in the final days were working to declassify documents that they could use later to embarrass those Trump saw as his enemies & to try (again) to shape the narrative on the Russia investigation. https://t.co/6vKhNsPa0q pic.twitter.com/SZqs121ahA

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) August 20, 2022

A federal grand jury issued a subpoena related to the investigation in the spring, according to sources familiar with the matter, and Trump attorneys met at Mar-a-Lago with Justice Department officials later in June. The online news outlet Just the News first reported the existence of the subpoena.

A lawyer for Trump later signed a document [which lying Trump lawyer? Why is the media protecting the identity of this lying lawyer? Where’s the “transparency” they claim to represent?] certifying all classified materials had been removed from Mar-a-Lago, CBS News has learned, but the now-released search warrant inventory created following the search last week indicated that the signed document was incorrect [you mean false] — 11 more sets of classified documents were recovered.

In a related matter, the mob boss and demagogue is threatening to release unedited surveillance video of the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago that he and his family watched by CCCTV. While this surveillance video will disprove Trump’s false claim that evidence was planted by the FBI, it would also show the faces and identifying uniforms of FBI and law enforcement officers executing the searhc warrant, which would allow him to retaliate against them by sicking his violent MAGA/QAnon thugs on them by use of stochastic terrorism. No one believes that faces and identifying information will be blurred out for their protection.

CNN Reports, Trump considering releasing surveillance footage of FBI Mar-a-Lago search:

Some allies of former President Donald Trump are urging him to publicly release surveillance footage of FBI agents executing a search warrant on his Mar-a-Lago residence, a proposal that has drawn mixed reaction inside his orbit, CNN has learned.

The CCTV footage has been so closely held that aides to the former President aren’t sure if he has seen it in full himself, said a person close to Trump.

“I don’t think it’s been shared by anyone outside of the attorneys,” this person said.

Yet when asked earlier this week by Fox’s Sean Hannity whether the footage would be released, Trump’s son Eric said, “Absolutely Sean, at the right time. ”

Some of Trump’s aides and allies have encouraged the former President to make some of the footage available to the public, believing it could send a jolt of energy through the Republican Party’s base. One person familiar with the conversations said there have been discussions about featuring the August footage in campaign-style ads, believing the footage could bolster Trump’s claims of political persecution.

Another person close to Trump said it’s not a matter of if the former President and his team release any of the footage, but when, noting it could be released before he makes a campaign announcement.

Others in Trump’s orbit have warned of the potential risks to the former President if he does release the tapes. A second person close to Trump cautioned that releasing the footage could backfire by providing people with a visual understanding of the sheer volume of materials that federal agents seized from his oceanfront residence, including classified materials.

“It’s one thing to read a bunch of numbers on an inventory list, it’s another to see law enforcement agents actually carrying a dozen-plus boxes out of President Trump’s home knowing they probably contain sensitive documents. I don’t see how that helps him,” said this person, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity in order the speak candidly.

Trump could also spend the next several months simply raising the specter of releasing the footage to be used as a political weapon without ever actually doing so.

CNN has reached out to FBI and Justice Department for comment.

While it is unclear exactly what the surveillance footage could show, Trump and his attorneys say they taped the August 8 search by federal investigators even after agents asked them to turn off the security cameras. Jay Bratt, the chief of the counterintelligence and export control section at the Justice Department who visited Mar-a-Lago in June, was the official who made the specific ask the day of the search, a source familiar tells CNN.

The Justice Department had previously subpoenaed surveillance footage from the club as part of its ongoing investigation, including outside the room where documents were kept.

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that FBI agents “demanded that all security cameras be turned off… We said no!” [“We failed to comply with lw enforcement.”] It’s not uncommon for the FBI to try to make sure any cameras are not capturing a search of this nature when there are classified materials involved.

As the former President and his team weigh whether and when to release any of the surveillance footage, his impending 2024 presidential campaign announcement could be a factor in that timing, said one person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss closely held matters. The former President is widely expected to make another run for office, though he is still deciding when to formally launch his campaign.

It is unclear if he has consulted with his current legal team on the potential implications of releasing the surveillance footage. The former President has reportedly been searching to hire experienced attorneys to help him navigate the federal investigation into his keeping of presidential records at Mar-a-Lago.

“If someone can persuade him this is somehow good for him and bad for his enemies, he’ll do it,” said Ty Cobb, a former White House attorney under Trump. “He doesn’t have the lawyers to help him sort through these things strategically and is really thinking through them on his own.”

Trump [incompetent] attorney Christina Bobb declined to comment on the record.

Among the Trump allies clamoring for him to release the surveillance footage either in full or curated versions is former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who told CNN in an interview that he favors releasing the footage, saying “Red-Pill the Nation” in an apparent reference to the film, “The Matrix.”

This motherfucker needs to spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.

A second Trump ally who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity [Hmm, Peter Navarro?] has also encouraged the former President’s team to make the footage public, telling CNN it would “drive the base f—ing bananas” to see FBI agents “milling around Mar-a-Lago while President Trump was out of town.” (The former President was at Trump Tower in New York City when the search occurred last week.)

Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed on social media that Republicans are benefiting from a surge of enthusiasm among base voters who believe the Justice Department abused its authority by executing a search warrant at the former President’s residence.

Note Trump supporters’ total lack of concern for our national security and Espionage Act violations. If a Democrat had done this they would be calling for his execution.

But releasing the tapes could neuter some of the most conspiratorial excuses for the search that MAGA personalities have been circulating in recent days, including the baseless notion that the FBI planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago – a claim the former President himself has repeated and which there is no evidence to support, especially after Trump’s own lawyer signed off on the FBI’s seizure receipts at the end of the search.

Prior to revealing he kept his surveillance cameras on at Mar-a-Lago, Trump also claimed that “nobody” was allowed to watch the FBI conduct its search of his home.

“I think the folks in New York – President Trump and his family – they probably had a better view than I did. Because they had the CCTV, they were able to watch,” Bobb told the right-wing network Real America’s Voice last Thursday. Days later, Bobb told right-wing commentator Tomi Lahren she had misunderstood the situation and wasn’t aware of who saw the surveillance footage – live or taped.

Trump’s former lawyer Cobb said he is skeptical that Trump will eventually release the footage.

“If anything problematic happened, like it showed somebody planting evidence or something like that, then it would be really explosive,” said Cobb. “That’s the main reason I doubt they will make it public, because I’m sure it doesn’t show them planting evidence and it takes that crazy claim off the table.”

Using it as leverage

As Trump mulls a third presidential campaign, the more politically potent move for him could be to keep teasing the existence of security footage without ever making it public. It would be a familiar strategy for Trump, who routinely promised to provide exonerating evidence when faced with sexual harassment allegations during his 2016 presidential campaign but rarely never followed through.

“It loses its power as leverage once it gets out,” said Cobb.

Trump already pushed to release the warrant that led FBI agents to search his Palm Beach estate last week and the list of items they seized while on the property – both of which were unsealed last Friday at the behest of the DOJ. The former President has also urged Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart to release the underlying affidavit that was central to federal agents obtaining a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago.

Writing on Truth Social Monday, Trump said, “In the interest of TRANSPARENCY, I call for the immediate release of the completely Unredacted Affidavit pertaining to this horrible and shocking BREAK-IN.”

The Justice Department responded this week to oppose media outlets’ request to unseal the affidavit, arguing that doing so could compromise its ongoing investigation and discourage future witnesses from cooperating.