According to a U.S. official, federal investigators are now carefully examining video footage they have received showing persons at Mar-a-Lago with access to storage facilities where former President Donald Trump’s papers from his property were being stored. These papers included some classified documents.
The Justice Department is still very concerned about the video demonstrating this possible access to a website with extremely sensitive information.
Despite being aware of the footage, a source close to Trump’s attorneys advised against drawing any conclusions from it. A filtration team from the government is still cataloguing his papers to determine what should be returned to Trump.
The decision on whether the information that led the FBI’s investigation of Trump’s Florida home would be made public is still up in the air. The Justice Department’s prosecutors have until Thursday to provide the court with a suggested redacted version of the material, the judge who issued the order reiterating this on Monday.
Judge Bruce Reinhart said in a letter sent on Monday that although he “rejects” the government’s assertion that the Mar-a-Lago affidavit as a whole should remain secret, he is willing to change his opinion and wants to consider the suggested redactions before reaching a decision.
In response to the Justice Department’s claim that the record would be so severely redacted that it would be useless to the public, Reinhart responded, “I cannot tell at this stage that partial redactions would be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure.” “After hearing more from the Government, I could finally come to that judgment.”
The question is whether the affidavit, which often provides precise information regarding evidence, is of such crucial relevance to the media and, therefore, the public that the court should take the extraordinary step of making it public.
The Justice Department responded that it is necessary to “guard the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security,” despite the fact that many news organizations, including CBS News, have petitioned the court to unseal the affidavit.
Prosecutors said that disclosing the contents of the record to the public may “chill” cooperation from other possible witnesses since the investigation’s methodology and the identities of FBI agents and witnesses are at risk.
According to Reinhart, “there is a strong risk that unsealing the Affidavit will violate legitimate privacy interests by explicitly exposing the name of [the author] and giving evidence that may be utilized to identify witnesses.”
Trump has requested that the unredacted affidavit be made public, as have the media outlets, despite the fact that none of the court hearings have included Trump’s attorneys as interested parties, as Reinhart noted in his Monday ruling.
Last week, a dispute over the publication of the affidavit broke down in Reinhart’s Florida courtroom between prosecutors and attorneys representing numerous media outlets.
Reinhard said he was “not prepared to conclude the affidavit should be totally sealed” despite protests from the Justice Department.
During the hearing, he continued, “There are parts of it that may, at least, presumptively be opened.
The affidavit refers to the physical layout of Trump’s house, “which is a place safeguarded by the U.S. Secret Service” and should probably stay out of the public eye, but Monday’s decision suggested he may, in fact, eventually side with prosecutors in part because of this.
The National Archives and Records Administration announced in January that it had retrieved 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago, some of which contained sensitive national security information. The archivists then asked the investigators to look into the matter; the Justice Department declined to comment on the judge’s order.
With Merrick Garland’s consent, the Justice Department applied for the search warrant that led to the Aug. 6 law enforcement operation at Trump’s club. The search warrant was approved on August 5 by Reinhart, who had reviewed the affidavit and assessed any evidence provided by the investigators.
On Monday, Reinhart said that he had “carefully studied the Affidavit before signing the Warrant” and that he was “comfortable” with how “credible” the facts are.
Trump, who has denied any misconduct, has stated that he declassified the relevant papers before he left office.
According to one of his lawyers on Friday, his legal team is contemplating submitting a court application asking for the appointment of a “special master” to analyze and return the evidence gathered during the FBI investigation of his Mar-a-Lago residence last week.