The US Justice Department on Monday said it opposes unsealing the affidavit that prosecutors used to obtain a federal judge's approval to search former President Donald Trump's Florida home, Reuters reports.
"If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government's ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps," prosecutors wrote in their filing.
Republicans in recent days have ramped up their calls for Attorney General Merrick Garland to unseal the document, which would reveal the evidence that prosecutors showed to demonstrate they had probable cause to believe crimes were committed at Trump's home.
This past Friday, a judge in Florida unsealed the search warrant for Trump’s home of Mar-a-Lago and related documents.
The warrant says that the FBI is investigating former US President Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act.
A receipt accompanying the search warrant, viewed by Politico, shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with “TS/SCI,” which indicate one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled “Info re: President of France.”
Earlier reports said FBI agents who searched Mar-a-Lago removed no fewer than 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities.
The FBI agents took around 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Trump’s ally Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property shows.
As some of the records seized were labeled as "top secret", the Justice Department on Monday cited this as another reason to keep the affidavit sealed, saying the probe involves "highly classified materials."
Last Thursday, people familiar with the investigation told the Washington Post that classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in the search of Trump’s residence.
That report came hours after US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that he personally approved the decision to search Mar-a-Lago residence and is asking a judge to unseal the warrant.
“The department does not take such a decision lightly,” Garland said in his first public comments about the search.
Meanwhile on Monday, Trump argued that the records taken by the FBI had been declassified.
"The country is in a very dangerous position. There is tremendous anger, like I've never seen before, over all of the scams, and this new one – years of scams and witch hunts, and now this," Trump told Fox News. "If there is anything we can do to help, I, and my people, would certainly be willing to do that.”
The former President confirmed that his representatives had not heard back from the Justice Department on accepting his offer.
"There has never been a time like this where law enforcement has been used to break into the house of a former president of the United States, and there is tremendous anger in the country – at a level that has never been seen before, other than during very perilous times," he said.