A redacted version of the document that supported the search warrant carried out earlier this month at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property has been made public by a federal court.
According to the documents that have so far been made public, the FBI’s affidavit was 38 pages lengthy and had at least 78 paragraphs. It has several redactions.
According to the affidavit, there was “probable cause” that Mar-a-Lago would include evidence of obstruction. Additionally, it specifies that there is “probable cause to assume that the PREMISES will include evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other objects unlawfully held in violation of 18 U.S.C. 793(e), 2071, or 1519.”
The FBI’s investigation, according to the redacted affidavit, “confirmed that contents included in the FIFTEEN BOXES, which seem to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were housed at the PREMISES in an unknown location and include papers carrying classification markings.”
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) discovered 15 boxes in January 2022, and the redacted affidavit states that 14 of those boxes contained classified information.
According to the redacted affidavit, highly classified materials being unfolded, mixed up with ordinary records, and otherwise improperly [sic] identified was “of very great concern” to the NARA.
After media outlets like CBS News pressed for its public release, US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart last week ordered the Justice Department to provide him suggested redactions to the affidavit, which probably contains witness testimony and specific claims. Reinhart said on Thursday that the government had complied with its responsibilities to support the redactions.
On August 8, the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home as part of a probe into how he has handled presidential documents after leaving office.
The search warrant and an inventory of the items recovered, which included an inventory of 11 sets of sensitive papers, were both unveiled on August 12.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and then Reinhart authorized the Mar-a-Lago search warrant on August 5. After reviewing the document and its references to evidence from investigations, Reinhart, a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, said last week that “all the material that the court relied upon is in the affidavit.”
Affirming the necessity to “guard the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security,” the Justice Department had argued that the affidavit should stay confidential. Prosecutors warned the court that disclosing the affidavit ran the danger of stifling future cooperation and putting the identity of FBI agents and witnesses at risk.
In order for the public to understand the Justice Department’s justifications for the search, the media organizations had urged that at least some of the affidavit should be unsealed.
In a move earlier this week, Trump and his lawyers asked a separate court to appoint a special master to examine the records obtained from Mar-a-Lago. They said the former president’s constitutional rights must be protected by a special master, a court-appointed monitor.
Additionally, Trump’s legal team requested that the Justice Department provide them a more thorough inventory of the items that the FBI obtained from his Florida resort and return any items that did not fall within the search warrant’s purview.
In January, Mar-a-Lago sent 15 cartons of presidential memorabilia to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Following its initial examination of those boxes, the NARA discovered over 100 documents with classification markings, including some that were designated as Top Secret and shielded by delicate Special Access Programs, in accordance with a letter written in May by the acting archivist of the Archives to a lawyer for the former president.