WASHINGTON – The Justice Department is scheduled to release Friday a redacted version of the affidavit justifying the unprecedented search of Donald Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
Some associated documents have been made public. USA TODAY are reviewing the just-released documents and this story will be updated.
- Why did a judge OK the redacted affidavit's release?: U.S. Magistrate Bruce Reinhart ordered the release Thursday and said the department could narrowly tailor the redactions while protecting the integrity of the investigation.
- What has the Justice Department said?: Department lawyers opposed the release of the affidavit because of the risk it could reveal the strategy of the investigation or discourage witnesses from cooperating. But Reinhart found the redactions would prevent those results.
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What action did the judge take? After three sealed documents were filed Friday in the search case, Reinhart ordered the redacted documents unsealed. He also ordered the accompanying memo and attachment unsealed.
Affidavit is roadmap to DOJ investigation
Justice Department officials described the affidavit supporting the Mar-a-Lago search as extremely detailed, warning that if released in full could lead to possible obstruction of its ongoing inquiry.
“Although the public is now aware that the government executed a search warrant at the premises owned by the former President and seized documents marked as classified, the affidavit is replete with further details that would provide a roadmap for anyone intent on obstructing the investigation,” according to newly unsealed documents.
Justice officials not only expressed concern for witnesses and the course of the investigation, but also for the safety of federal law enforcement agents.
“Meanwhile, FBI agents who have been publicly identified in connection with this investigation have received repeated threats of violence from members of the public,” the Justice document said. “Exposure of witnesses' identities would likely erode their trust in the government's investigation, and it would almost certainly chill other potential witnesses from coming forward in this investigation and others.”
– Kevin Johnson
DOJ cites concerns for witness safety
Justice Department officials expressed deep concern for the safety of witnesses in its continuing investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, according to a newly unsealed memorandum arguing for redactions of key information from the affidavit authorizing the Mar-a-Lago search.
“First and foremost, the government must protect the identity of witnesses at this stage of the investigation to ensure their safety,” Justice officials wrote. “As this Court noted, if information relating to witnesses were disclosed, "it is likely that even witnesses who are not expressly named in the Affidavit would be quickly and broadly identified over social media and other communication channels, which could lead to them being harassed and intimidated."
– Kevin Johnson
Biden defers to Justice Department on national security implications
President Joe Biden declined to say Friday whether U.S. national security was threatened by his predecessor’s storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
“We’ll let the Justice Department determine that,” Biden said at a White House event marking Women’s Equality Day.
Biden was responding to a shouted question from a reporter.
The White House has repeatedly declined to answer questions about the FBI’s retrieval of the documents and its potential implications.
– Maureen Groppe
Trump blasts search as partisan witch hunt
Ex-President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the FBI search on social media and in other statements, but many of his complaints are unfounded, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
Trump said there was “no way” to justify the search of Mar-a-Lago, even though FBI agents seized boxes of government documents – including 11 sets of classified records. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart authorized the search for evidence of potential mishandling defense documents and obstruction of justice.
Trump asserted executive privilege over the documents. But as government officials review what was recovered, legal experts say the former president has no claims of executive privilege to keep one portion of the executive branch from getting documents from another part.
Trump also complained about the FBI taking three of his passports. The Justice Department returned them – two were expired and one was an active diplomatic passport – after a review found they were unrelated to the search.
Attorney General Merrick Garland defended the FBI and Justice Department prosecutors in the search he approved.
– Bart Jansen
What led to the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home?
Though watchdogs raised red flags over former President Donald Trump’s record management as early as 2018, it came under greater scrutiny in February, after the National Archives obtained 15 boxes of presidential records that Trump had stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence — some of which the agency later confirmed were classified.
The Justice Department in April moved to investigate the handling of White House documents sent to Mar-a-Lago. Months later, in June, the former president was served with a subpoena seeking other sensitive government documents that investigators believed he’d stored there after he left the White House.
Federal agents searched Trump's Florida property on Aug. 8, leaving with some 20 boxes of items that included 11 sets of classified documents. A warrant authorizing the search showed Trump is under investigation for possibly breaking three federal laws: removal or destruction of records, obstructing an investigation and violating the Espionage Act.
– Ella Lee
Biden not expected to comment
Don’t expect President Joe Biden to weigh in on whatever is released in the redacted version of the affidavit justifying the FBI’s retrieval of materials from Mar-a-Lago, including 11 sets of classified documents.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not answer questions Wednesday about whether the administration has assessed the national security risk of the documents being moved and stored at Trump's private Florida residence.
“We just are not going to comment on the contents of this ongoing, independent investigation that the Department of Justice is doing,” Jean-Pierre said. “We're not going to comment on the underlying materials at this time. We're just not going to do that.”
NBC News reported this week that the intelligence community does not appear to have launched a formal damage assessment, which is required “when there is an actual or suspected unauthorized disclosure or compromise of classified national intelligence that may cause damage to U.S. national security.” Assessments may also be conducted “when there is an actual or suspected loss, misuse, or unauthorized access to or modification of classified national intelligence that could adversely affect national security,” according to the 2104 policy.
– Maureen Groppe
From Florida to Georgia, Trump-related legal action churns on
In addition to the highly anticipated release of the redacted affidavit supporting the Mar-a-Lago search, legal action involving former President Donald Trump is playing out Friday in multiple other venues.
Trump’s legal team is due to file an amended request in a separate Florida federal court calling for the appointment of a special master or third party to review the classified documents seized from Trump’s Florida estate during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search to ensure that possibly privileged material is shielded from scrutiny.
The initial request, cast in starkly political terms, was filed earlier this week, but a federal judge asked that Trump’s lawyers more clearly state their case for making such a request.
Trump’s lawyers described the government’s search, which resulted in the seizure of 11 sets of classified documents, as overly broad because it authorized FBI agents to seize "boxes of documents merely because they are physically found together with other items purportedly within the scope of the warrant."
In Georgia, meanwhile, the Atlanta-area district attorney leading a separate criminal inquiry into interference in the 2020 election has summoned Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows to appear before a special grand jury.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis described Meadows as a “material witness” to possible election-related fraud. Prosecutors referred to Meadows’ alleged role in arranging a Jan. 2, 2021 telephone call in which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to tilt the Georgia election in his favor.
– Kevin Johnson
Biden said he had ‘zero’ advance notice of the Mar-a-Lago search
“I didn’t have any advanced notice – none, zero, not one single bit,” Biden said Wednesday, his first public comments on the search.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has said that no one at the White House was given a heads-up about the unprecedented search and that Justice Department investigations should be “free from political influence.”
"The Justice Department conducts investigations independently, and we leave any law enforcement matters to them," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Aug. 9. She said Biden "was not briefed, was not aware of it."
– Ella Lee
Trump lawyers stumble in lawsuit over search
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon scolded lawyers James Trusty of Washington, D.C., and Evan Corcoran of Baltimore for not following local rules when they filed their lawsuit Monday. The two lawyers were not licensed to practice in Florida, where the case is being heard. They refiled the necessary paperwork Tuesday and were approved Wednesday.
On Thursday, lawyer Lindsey Halligan filed to change her local address in the case, but it was rejected because she hadn’t followed the required procedures.
In the lawsuit, Trump seeks to halt the government’s review of documents seized during the search on Aug. 8. The filing accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of using the search to play politics with the November elections.
– Bart Jansen
What classified documents have been found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate?
FBI agents seized 11 sets of classified documents among other records while searching Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8. Trump blasted the search as a partisan witch hunt and said he was cooperating with authorities. He sought the return of the documents.
The search came after the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of documents in January, including 100 classified records totaling 700 pages. Federal authorities also recovered classified documents under subpoena on June 3.
Media companies including The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network, argued for release of the affidavit to learn more about what provoked the unprecedented search of a former president’s home.
– Bart Jansen
Trump aides unlikely to face charges on their own in Mar-a-Lago probe, ex prosecutors say
Potential criminal charges including the Espionage Act cited in the search warrant require willful criminal intent, a legal standard that might not apply to aides who simply packed or moved boxes without knowing what they contained, according to former prosecutors. The Espionage Act doesn't necessarily allege spying, but mishandling documents about national defense.
Aides who knowingly moved or hid classified records could face potential charges. But even then former prosecutors said they wouldn’t expect document charges against aides unless Trump himself were charged.
– Bart Jansen
Mar-a-Lago document investigation:Trump aides unlikely to face charges on their own in Mar-a-Lago probe, ex prosecutors say
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