Judge Releases Redacted Affidavit for Mar-a-Lago Search

A federal judge has officially ordered the partially-redacted affidavit explaining justification for FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property unsealed.

For what it’s worth, Donald Trump is sending out a barrage of posts on Truth Social.

A Justice Department legal brief explains the proposed redactions:

• The government asserts that an investigation of Trump has resulted in threats against witnesses and investigators.
• The government asserts that information must be withheld because of the near-certainty of obstruction of justice.

And here is some of what is included in the partially-redacted affidavit:

• Trump is referred to in the affidavit as “FPOTUS.”
• In the 15 boxes taken from Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department says “of most significant concern was that highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records, and otherwise unproperly identified.”
• “There is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI or that are Presidential records subject to record retention … remain at the PREMISES. There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the PREMISES.”
• Agents discovered that many of the materials included the highest national security restrictions with foreign governments, to protect “clandestine human sources” employed by intelligence community to collect information around the world.
• “Based on the foregoing facts and circumstances, I submit that probable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation 18 U.S.C. §§ 793(e), 2071, or 1519 will be found at the PREMISES.”

Matthew Miller: “All of it is bad, but Trump having documents derived from human intelligence (i.e. spies) floating around Mar-a-Lago is about the worst imaginable offense in this space.”

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