U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart on Tuesday unsealed additional portions of the heavily-redacted affidavit used to justify the raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
When Reinhardt first released an unredacted version of the affidavit last month, approximately 20 pages of the 38-page affidavit were either significantly or fully redacted.
That version of the affidavit revealed that the FBI said it had “probable cause to believe” that additional records containing classified information, including National Defense Information, would be found on the premises of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, beyond what he had previously turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration
The Justice Department asked, and Reinhart agreed Tuesday afternoon, to reveal parts of the original Trump affidavit that were originally redacted, specifically related to grand jury subpoenas.
Reinhart, on Tuesday, released a new version of the affidavit, unsealing additional sections that provide further details on the timing of subpoenas and Trump’s cooperation with them.
One newly-unsealed portion of the affidavit revealed that Trump, in addition to the original 15 boxes of records provided to the National Archives and Records Administration, produced additional documents bearing classification markings in response to a grand jury subpoena.
“Since the FIFTEEN BOXES were provided to NARA, additional documents bearing classification markings, which appear to contain NDI and were stored at the PREMISES in an unauthorized location, have been produced to the government in response to a grand jury subpoena directed to FPOTUS’s post-presidential office and seeking documents containing further classification markings stored at the PREMISES and otherwise under FPOTUS’ control,” the unsealed portion of the affidavit states.
Another newly-unredacted section details what a May 24 subpoena was seeking, including “any and all documents or writings in the custody or control of Donald J. Trump and/or the Office of Donald J. Trump bearing classification markings.”
Another unsealed portion states that lawyers for the Justice Department also sent Trump’s lawyer a letter that “permitted alternative compliance with the subpoena by ‘providing any responsible documents to the FBI at the place of their location’ and by providing from the custodian a ‘sworn certification that the documents represent all responsive records.’”
“The letter further stated that if no responsive documents existed, the custodian should provide a soon certification to that effect,” the affidavit continues.
The newly-unsealed affidavit also revealed that an extension was “granted for compliance with the subpoena,” which originally was set for May 24. On June 3, “three FBI agents and DOJ counsel arrived at the premises to accept receipt of the materials.”
The further unsealed affidavit also shows that a grand jury subpoenaed footage from surveillance cameras at Mar-a-Lago on June 24.
TRUMP-PICKED SPECIAL MASTER CANDIDATE SIGNED CARTER PAGE WARRANT BEFORE FBI MISCONDUCT DISCOVERED
“On July 6, 2022, in response to this subpoena, representatives of the Trump Organization provided a hard drive to FBI agents,” another unsealed portion of the affidavit states.
Reinhart signed the FBI’s warrant for the raid on Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 5, giving the FBI authority to conduct its search–a document the judge unsealed, along with the property receipt from the raid. FBI agents took approximately 20 boxes of items from the premises, including one set of documents marked as “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which refers to top secret/sensitive compartmented information.
Records covered by that government classification level could potentially include human intelligence and information that, if disclosed, could jeopardize relations between the U.S. and other nations, as well as the lives of intelligence operatives abroad. However, the classification also encompasses national security information related to the daily operations of the president of the United States.
The property receipt also showed that FBI agents collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, but the document does not reveal any details about any of those records.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon granted Trump’s legal team’s request for the appointment of a special master to review the documents seized by the FBI during its raid of Mar-a-Lago. Trump and the DOJ have agreed upon a candidate, retired Judge Raymond Drearie, but it is up to Cannon to decide.
