The federal magistrate judge who allowed the search of former President Donald Trump's Palm Beach, Florida house on August 8 had ordered the publication of a redacted version of the affidavit FBI agents used to secure a search warrant for the ex-property president's
In a two-page order issued on Thursday, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart stated that the Department of Justice had met the compelling reason or good cause legal standard required to keep portions of the sworn statement sealed because disclosing those portions would reveal the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, and uncharged parties, as well as the strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods of the ongoing investigation into whether Trump violated US law.
Judge Orders Release of FBI Search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago
Judge Reinhart went on to explain that sealing parts of the affidavit would also safeguard grand jury evidence, which the government is required by Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to keep secret. He has ordered the government to file the redacted version of the document in the court's electronic filing system by noon on Friday, after which it will be made public, as per Independent.
The judge found that the Department of Justice had fulfilled its burden of demonstrating that its proposed redactions are narrowly limited to satisfy the Government's legitimate interest in the integrity of the current investigation and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the full affidavit. Not shortly after the DOJ's secret papers on the redactions were submitted, a group of media businesses, including CNN, asked the judge to unseal the Justice Department brief on the redactions.
According to the media outlets, the brief should be made public with any redactions needed to safeguard the current inquiry. Furthermore, the media businesses urged the judge to require that any records the Justice Department files under secret in the transparency issue be released openly with proper redactions in the future.
The brief should be made public with any redactions needed to safeguard the current inquiry. Furthermore, the media businesses urged the judge to require that any records the Justice Department files under secret in the transparency issue be released openly with proper redactions in the future, according to CNN.
Trump Filed Separate Civil Case
Trump and several of his allies have also advocated for the publication of the paper. In response to Thursday's submission, the media coalition asked the judge to unseal sections of the department's brief and to order the government to file a redacted version of any sealed document it submits in the future.
"If and when further facts come to light and are verified to be correct, or specific information no longer constitutes a threat to the inquiry for any other reason," the coalition wrote, "there is no rationale for keeping them under seal either."
Trump has filed a separate civil case, requesting that another judge halt the FBI's review of the seized records pending the appointment of a special master to independently review them for materials that may be protected under executive privilege, a legal principle that allows a president to shield some information.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon has urged Trump's legal team to produce a more precise motion by Friday that specifies what relief the former president is seeking and why it should not be transferred to Judge Reinhart instead, ABC News reported.
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