On Thursday, the court ruled that the content of the official statement sworn in after Donald Trump’s home search belonged to the public, but that the Department of Justice could cover up certain parts of it.
A court hearing was held in West Palm Beach, Florida, after several US media outlets demanded the disclosure of an important document produced during an FBI home search. These will reveal exactly what investigators were looking for on the former president’s property. “What we can’t see, we can’t believe,” said Chuck Tobin, an attorney for The Associated Press, and the Justice Department said the investigation’s interests do not allow for a public inspection.
Photo: STRINGER/AFP
The department’s senior national security attorney has taken a stand in favor of maintaining the document’s closed classification. Jay Pratt reiterated the Department’s position that declassifying the affidavit would provide a map to an early-stage investigation that would reveal next steps by federal agents and prosecutors.
Judge Bruce Reinhart announced Thursday, after hearing both sides’ arguments, that he was no longer convinced that the entire document should be closed to the public. He also said that in addition to withholding certain parts, the public can see the affidavit obtained while searching Donald Trump’s property in Florida. At the same time, a federal district judge in Palm Beach gave the Department of Justice’s legal representatives the opportunity to suggest which parts could comply with a disclosure ruling during a cover-up. The judge gave the government agency one week to do so.
A local police officer at Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago on August 9, 2022, the day after the FBI stormed his home.
Photo: GIORGIO VIERA / AFP
Bruce Reinhart was the judge who issued the search warrant on August 5, which led FBI investigators to Trump’s Palm Beach estate two days later.
During the house search, according to the report, about 20 boxes of documents were seized. The Department of Justice in Washington declassified part of the documents a week ago, which revealed that the authority considers some of the documents found with Donald Trump classified as classified and top secret. Donald Trump has questioned the classification of the documents, saying he declassified them during his tenure. (MTI)
