Judge Reinhart rejected the Justice Department's argument to keep Trump' s affidavit sealed and calls the raid on the former president's residence an "unprecedented" action.
Bruce Reinhart, the Florida judge hearing the case, ordered the Justice Department to turn over a redacted copy of the affidavit last week. This Monday he formally rejected the Justice Department's request to keep sealed the entire affidavit used for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant.
As reported by Fox News, Reinhart, who originally approved the order, said he rejects "the Government's argument that the present record justifies keeping the entire affidavit under seal."
Justice officials were opposed to disclosing the entire affidavit in full, or even a redacted affidavit. The reasoning is that such a move would show "the roadmap" of the investigation, and would uncover whether Trump had classified White House documents in the estate. This could "chill" other potential witnesses. The judge stressed that the affidavit needs to be at least partially released given the "intense public and historical interest" in the FBI's "unprecedented" raid.
Given the intense public and historical interest in an unprecedented search of a former president's residence, the Government has not yet demonstrated that these administrative concerns are sufficient to justify sealing.
The department can propose redactions to the affidavit until this Thursday.
Trump calls for unsealing of affidavit
Trump, although not a party to the hearing, demanded that the affidavit be unsealed and released in unredacted form. "In the interest of transparency, I call for the immediate release of the completely unredacted affidavit relating to this horrible and gruesome break-in," the former president wrote on the Truth Social network.
