The Department of Justice on Friday released the redacted affidavit behind the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida earlier in the month.
The judge who approved the warrant for the raid, US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, ordered the 38-page affidavit to be unsealed by noon on Friday, the New York Post reported.
“The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records,” the affidavit said.
The release of the document was significant due to the DOJ’s attempt to block its release alleging it contained essential details whose release was “highly likely to compromise future investigative steps” into whether Trump stored classified documents at his Florida home.
“The government has met its burden of showing that its proposed redactions are narrowly tailored to serve the government’s legitimate interest in the integrity of the ongoing investigation and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the entire affidavit,” Reinhart ruled.
The FBI removed over 20 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago, including classified government records labeled “top secret.”
On Tuesday, the US National Archives said that it discovered more than 700 pages of classified documents at former President Donald Trump's Florida home in addition to material seized this month by FBI agents, Reuters reported, citing a newly disclosed May letter the records agency sent to Trump’s attorney.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)