A federal judge in Florida has ordered that more information be made public from the search warrant affidavit that led the FBI to discover a trove of classified documents at Donald Trump’s Florida resort.
In a ruling Wednesday, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart denied a request by media organizations, including NBC News, that the entire affidavit be unsealed in the wake of last month’s related criminal charges against the former president, but found “additional portions of the search warrant application should be unsealed.”
Reinhart said the Justice Department agreed in a sealed filing that some additional parts of the search warrant could be made public, but asked that other parts remain sealed to “comply with grand jury secrecy rules and to protect investigative sources and methods.”
The judge said that that DOJ “has met its burden of showing that its proposed redactions of the affidavit are narrowly tailored to serve the Government’s legitimate interests and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the entire search warrant affidavit.”
It’s unclear when the less-redacted version will be filed, or how new the information will be to the public, since it will most likely involve information that is contained in the 37-count federal indictment that was unsealed last month.
Trump is accused of breaking seven different laws, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information and single counts of false statements and representations, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document, concealing a document in a federal investigation and a scheme to conceal.
He has pleaded not guilty in the case, and claimed that he had declassified the documents and that they were his to do with as he pleased.
His order Wednesday showed the Justice Department is also seeking to keep under wraps its motion about a limited unsealing of some materials in the case so they could be turned over to Trump’s lawyers.
The judge said he would allow that motion to remain under seal because it “identifies investigative steps that have not yet been made public,” but he would allow his ruling on the government’s request to be made public because it does “not disclose the contents of any discovery material.”
Reinhart stayed that order until July 13 to give the government time to decide whether it wants to appeal.
Peter Carr, a spokesperson for special counsel Jack Smith, declined comment.
Trump’s co-defendant in the case, aide and former White House valet Walt Nauta, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
Source – NBC News
