Judge rejects DOJ arguments to keep ‘unprecedented’ FBI’s Trump raid affidavit entirely seale

From The Washington Examiner:

A judge suggested he may allow the Justice Department to keep the FBI affidavit behind its Mar-a-Lago raid mostly sealed, though he rejected the DOJ’s arguments that the justification underpinning the “unprecedented search” should be kept fully hidden.

Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who signed the warrant for the raid on former President Donald Trump’s home, indicated during a Thursday court hearing that he may partially unseal the affidavit itself, ordering the DOJ to file a redacted version of the raid affidavit by this Thursday at noon. The judge said in court that he believes there are portions that can be unsealed and ordered the government to file proposed redactions, but in an 11-page opinion on Monday, he indicated the DOJ may yet convince him that very little information from the affidavit behind the warrant should be released.

Reinhart said that a number of outside groups, including the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch, and a host of media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press, had intervened to attempt to unseal the affidavit, while the DOJ “opposes the request to unseal.” Reinhart noted that “neither Former President Trump nor anyone else purporting to be the owner of the Premises” at Mar-a-Lago has filed any motion taking a position on unsealing the affidavit or not.

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