A Florida magistrate judge heard arguments in person Thursday on a request by a media coalition to release the affidavit supporting the search warrant executed at the Mar-a-Lago estate of the ‘former President Donald Trump last week.
The Justice Department had urged Judge Bruce Reinhart to keep the affidavit sealed, arguing that if it were made public it could “cause significant and irreparable harm” to an ongoing criminal investigation involving highly classified materials related to national security.
Arguing on behalf of the Justice Department on Thursday, Jay Bratt, the chief of the agency’s counterintelligence and export control division, acknowledged the heightened public interest in the case, but argued that there there is another public interest which is the government’s position to keep the underlying affidavit sealed. as it would provide a roadmap and “suggest the next research steps we would be about to take.”
Bratt said the investigation is in its “early stages” and he feared for the safety of witnesses and potential witnesses and the threat of “possible obstruction and interference.”
“This investigation is open. It’s in its early stages,” Bratt said.
Bratt argued that the redactions in the affidavit would not be sufficient because the information contained in the affidavit could identify witnesses based on descriptions of events that only some people would have knowledge of.
Armed Secret Service agents stand outside an entrance to former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate Monday afternoon, Aug. 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Florida.
Terry Renna/AP
After hearing the government’s arguments, Judge Reinhart said, “I am not prepared to find that the affidavit should be completely sealed.”
The judge said he thinks there are parts of it that could presumably come off; whether they would make sense is for someone else to decide, he said. The government may disagree with him on some points, he said, giving the DOJ until next Thursday to submit its draft proposals.
ABC News and several media organizations have called for the release of the affidavit, noting the historic significance of the unprecedented law enforcement search of a former president’s residence and the “immediate public interest and intense, as well as a resounding reaction from Mr. Trump and his allies.”
Officials said in their filing Monday, however, that they believed the redactions that would be necessary to protect the investigation “would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content.”
The DOJ is likely to file an immediate appeal of any decision by Judge Reinhart that would reveal more substantive details underlying his investigation.
A police car is seen outside former US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on August 8, 2022. Trump said the residence was being “attacked” by FBI agents in what he described as a “procession” act. misconduct.”
Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images
The government said, however, that it would not oppose the unsealing of other materials submitted in connection with the order, such as cover sheets for the application, the government’s motion to keep the order under seal and Judge Reinhart’s original sealing order, none of them. which will probably reveal much more than the materials already disclosed.
The redacted copy of the search warrant released last Friday sent shock waves through Washington as it revealed that the Justice Department was investigating the possible violation of at least three separate criminal statutes in its search for Mar a Lago , including obstruction of justice and an offense under the Espionage Act.
A property receipt accompanying the warrant shows agents seized 11 boxes of documents of various classifications, including a set referred to as “classified documents/TS/SCI” (the acronym stands for Compartmentalized Top Secret/Confidential Information that not everyone has even a secret clearance). can see) and four other sets of top secret documents.
The documents were discovered by authorities after a Trump lawyer signed a statement to the FBI in June saying all classified documents from the premises had been turned over to investigators, sources confirmed to ABC News.
Trump’s team has yet to take legal action despite trying to publicly pressure the Justice Department to release the full affidavit.
Christina Bobb, who is part of Trump’s legal team, said they had no plans to file or speak publicly, but told reporters she came to watch the hearing.
Trump in recent days has called for the “immediate release” of the affidavit as he launched several attacks against the FBI and the Justice Department, while demanding on his social media website that the documents be returned to him . But Trump’s legal team has yet to take any legal action on any front in response to the search.
Trump’s former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and former White House deputy counsel Pat Philbin are among several other witnesses interviewed by the FBI as part of its investigation, ABC News confirmed Tuesday, with sources say both sat down with investigators sometime in the spring. But there is no indication that the Justice Department filing referring to officials’ hopes of protecting witnesses who testified in the investigation was a direct reference to Cipollone or Philbin.
ABC News’ John Santucci contributed to this report.