Fed Judge Ordered Merrick Garland's DOJ To Unseal Portions Of Mar-A-Lago Affidavit

On Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said he is inclined to unseal at least some of the probable cause affidavit used to secure a search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida Mar-A-Lago estate and ordered the government to submit proposed redactions.

After hearing arguments from both the government and attorneys representing several news organizations seeking to unseal the affidavit, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said:

“On my initial careful review … there are portions of it that can be unsealed,”

“Reinhardt has ordered other documents related to the FBI raid to be unsealed today, including the application for the warrant, the motion to seal, and the cover sheet,” Fox reports.

“Reinhart has given the government one week to submit proposed redactions under seal by noon on August 25th. After that, Judge Reinhart will review those redactions and then decide how he wants to proceed or if he wants to make his own redactions instead,” the report adds.

Fox News posted on Twitter:

GET YOUR POPCORN:

The Department of Justice has resisted releasing the affidavit, saying the investigation is ongoing, and releasing the document could hamper investigators’ efforts.

After a hearing where a top government lawyer contended the document’s release could jeopardize an investigation still in its “early stages.” Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinharts said:

“On my initial careful review … there are portions of it that can be unsealed,”

In a written ruling after the hearing, Reinhart said,

“I find that on the present record the Government has not met its burden of showing that the entire affidavit should remain sealed.” 

The judge said he would “give the government a full and fair opportunity” to make redactions to the document and ordered them to turn in the redacted version by next Thursday, along with a legal memo justifying the proposed redactions. 

He said he would review the document and either order its release if he agrees with the redaction or hold a closed-door hearing with the government if he disagrees.

The judge added that if they can’t agree, “obviously I’d win” that argument, but he’d allow the government time to appeal his ruling.

100 Percent Fed Up reported on Wednesday:

In fact, up until the FBI discovered that Trump had his own stash of documents, the communications regarding the return of other official documents were cordial. President Trump was complying and did, in fact, send several boxes of official papers and reports back already.

When the DOJ and the FBI pull stunts like this, it erodes confidence that they are capable of acting as a non-partisan administrator of justice. So much so, in fact, that Stasi comparisons have been rampant since the unprecedented raid–and in light of all this, who can deny the similarities?

A Tweet by Jeff Carlson revealing the true target of the FBI’s raid

This story is developing…

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