The new date is August 26, 2022.
The Justice Department released a redacted version of the affidavit it used to justify its request to search Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate.
The Mar-A-Lago estate is owned by President Donald Trump.
In a previous court filing, the DOJ warned that the Mar-A-Lago search would serve as a "road map" to the government's ongoing investigation.
According to the document, the government is conducting a criminal investigation into improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces.
There was evidence of obstruction of justice when the FBI searched Mar-A-Lago, and additional documents that Trump and his legal team did not initially turn over to the government, according to the FBI.
Whether the storage locations at Mar-A-Lago were authorized to house classified materials, if any classified information was stored in unauthorized locations, and who may have removed or retained classified information were some of the questions being asked by agents.
The initial 15 boxes of White House documents were turned over to the government before the August raid, which contained more than 180 classified documents.
handwritten notes.”According to the affidavit, the agency believed there was still classified material at Mar-A-Lago, and noted that no space at Mar-A-Lago has been authorized to store classified information.
Legal counsel for the DOJ sent a June letter to Trump's attorneys asking for any stored documents to be "secured and preserved." Mar-A-Lago does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information.
The government's response to an article that pushed an argument from Trump allies that the ex-president had declassified all the materials found at Mar-A-Lago is blacked out.
The DOJ justified its redactions, including not wanting to expose a significant number of civilian witnesses and their identities or give parties information that could be used to obstruct the investigation.
The judge agreed with the DOJ that the document should not be released as it would compromise the investigation, but he ordered it to be made public on Thursday.
"Based on the foregoing facts and circumstances, I submit that probable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of federal statutes will be found at the PREMISES."
The rest of the document is blacked out In his ruling, he noted that the government had redacted information in the affidavit that revealed the identities of any witnesses or other parties involved, as well as any grand jury information and the investigation's strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods. The DOJ warned that making the information public would compromise future investigative steps and could get witnesses to stop cooperating with the investigation so that the information wouldn't be made public.
The FBI searched Mar-A-Lago on August 8 in connection with an ongoing investigation into White House documents Trump brought back with him to his Florida resort. The federal government searched Mar-A-Lago and recovered 20 additional boxes of material in August, after Trump had already turned over 15 boxes earlier in the year. Republicans have demanded more transparency about the FBI's investigation and the DOJ has already released its search warrant in the case. The Espionage Act is one of the federal statutes that investigators are looking into. Media outlets and a conservative group had filed motions asking for the full affidavit to be made public after the search warrant was made public.
The Mar-A-Lago Search Affidavit must be released by the justice department.
A judge is set to release part of a search affidavit.
The FBI is investigating whether Trump violated three statutes.
The search warrant in the FBI's Trump Mar-A-Lago raid was not made public.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
