WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) – A federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered the U.S. Justice Department to make public a redacted version of an affidavit underpinning the Aug. 8 FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, possibly providing fresh insights on the investigation and evidence earlier obtained by the government.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the redacted document to be released by noon (1600 GMT) on Friday. His order came just hours after a Justice Department spokesman confirmed that prosecutors had submitted a sealed copy of the affidavit with proposed redactions to the judge.
Reinhart approved the Justice Department’s warrant that preceded the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach. The affidavit is a sworn statement outlining the evidence that gave the department probable cause to seek a search warrant.
Just how much the redacted affidavit will reveal remains to be seen. In his order on Thursday, Reinhart said the Justice Department had valid reasons to keep some of the document secret including the need to protect the identities of witnesses and federal agents as well as the government’s investigation and strategy and grand jury material.
“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 wrote.
The FBI in its court-approved search at Mar-a-Lago carried away more than 20 boxes containing 11 sets of classified government records, some of which were labeled “top secret.” The search was part of a federal investigation into whether Trump illegally removed and kept documents from the White House when he left office in January 2021 and whether he tried to obstruct the government’s investigation.
