Pages from the affidavit by the FBI in support of obtaining a search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate are photographed Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the Justice Department to make public a redacted version of the affidavit it relied on when federal agents searched Trump’s estate to look for classified documents. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:40 AM PT – Friday, August 26, 2022
The redacted Mar-a-Lago affidavit is officially released. After Friday’s release of the affidavit, the Department of Justice (DOJ) justified the redactions in the document. The DOJ claimed that disclosing certain information would hamper its pursuit of evidence.
#BREAKING
The redacted affidavit regarding FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate has been releasedhttps://t.co/j9c9q8w2xR— Stephanie Myers (@_StephanieMyers) August 26, 2022
The unredacted part of the documents showed that the FBI believed there was probable cause that national security documents were still at Mar-a-Lago after a prior request to hand them over. According to the affidavit, the FBI also believed they would find evidence of obstruction of justice at the Florida property. Former President Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the investigation into the documents.
Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the document be made public by noon eastern on Friday. Reinhart made the decision on Thursday. He said that the DOJ did not meet the burden of proving that the entire document should stay sealed.
Former President Donald Trump had called for the affidavit’s full release. Trump’s spokesperson believes that Democrat officials use redactions to hide their own corruption, claiming that it’s similar to what they did with the debunked Russia hoax.
Trump released a statement reacting to the redacted affidavit on Friday.
BREAKING 🚨 :
President Trump responds to the release of the heavily redacted affidavit
“a total public relations subterfuge by the FBI & DOB…” pic.twitter.com/WY0DwdG7SF
— CaitlinSinclairTV (@CSinclairtv) August 26, 2022