The Department of Justice asked a judge Monday to keep the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit sealed from the public, arguing it included too many sensitive details about the ongoing probe

Department of Justice asks judge to DENY media request to unseal the search warrant affidavit that led to the Mar-a-Lago raid because it would ‘serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation’

  • The Department of Justice asked a judge Monday to keep the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit sealed from the public 
  • ‘The affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation,’ prosecutors said, arguing the probe could be compromised 
  • CNN and other media outlets sued the government to get access to the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit 
  • It was used to convince a judge that there was probable cause that a crime was being committed at former President Donald Trump’s Florida home 
  • The DOJ argued making public those documents ‘at this juncture’ would ’cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation’

The Department of Justice asked a judge Monday to keep the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit sealed from the public, arguing it included too many sensitive details about the ongoing probe. 

‘The affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,’ prosecutors argued Monday in a court filing. 

CNN and other media outlets sued the government to get access to the affidavit, which provided the legal argument for why last Monday’s FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s Florida property was necessary. 

The Department of Justice asked a judge Monday to keep the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit sealed from the public, arguing it included too many sensitive details about the ongoing probe

The Department of Justice asked a judge Monday to keep the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit sealed from the public, arguing it included too many sensitive details about the ongoing probe

Former President Donald Trump has expressed outrage over last Monday's raid of his Florida home and private club, where a receipt says boxes of classified documents were removed

Former President Donald Trump has expressed outrage over last Monday’s raid of his Florida home and private club, where a receipt says boxes of classified documents were removed 

Attorney General Merrick Garland gave the go-head for the warrant and property receipt to be released, but the DOJ doesn't want the search warrant affidavit unsealed arguing it might harm the ongoing investigation

Attorney General Merrick Garland gave the go-head for the warrant and property receipt to be released, but the DOJ doesn’t want the search warrant affidavit unsealed arguing it might harm the ongoing investigation

Prosecutors had to show probable cause that a crime had been committed in order for a judge to green-light a search warrant of Trump’s Florida home and private club. 

The Justice Department argued Monday that making public those documents ‘at this juncture’ would ’cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.’ 

‘Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,’ the DOJ said.

Prosecutors also argued that releasing a redacted version wouldn’t serve the public. 

‘The redactions necessary to mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest,’ the DOJ said. 

On Friday, two other documents related to the search – the warrant and the property receipt – were publicly released after Attorney General Merrick Garland said the DOJ would go to court to approve it, if Trump agreed the documents could be unsealed.

Trump, who has expressed outrage over the rade, almost immediately said the documents could come out. 

The property receipt listed some documents taken from Mar-a-Lago as ‘top secret,’ the highest level of classification. 

The DOJ indicated Monday that it didn’t want additional details about the classified documents being released to the public yet.  

‘The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly,’ the DOJ said. 

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