DOJ Releases Redacted Mar-A-Lago Search Affidavit

Topline

The Justice Department unsealed Friday a redacted version of the affidavit it used to justify its request to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate, outlining the scope of the DOJ’s investigation and that the agency believed there was probable cause showing Trump had committed a crime by storing government documents—including classified materials—at his Florida resort.

President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate on Aug. 10 in Palm Beach, Florida.

Key Facts

The document unsealed Friday is a redacted version of the affidavit the DOJ used to get a judge to authorize the Mar-A-Lago search, which it warned in a previous court filing would “serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course” if made fully public.

The document states the government is conducting a criminal investigation into “improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records.”

The FBI believed there was probable cause there would be “evidence of obstruction” at Mar-A-Lago when it searched the premises, along with additional documents that Trump and his legal team did not initially turn over to the government.

Agents were specifically looking into how classified documents were removed from the White House and made it to Mar-A-Lago, whether the storage locations at Mar-A-Lago were authorized to house classified materials, if any classified information was stored in unauthorized locations and who may have “removed or retained” classified information without authorization or in an unauthorized area.

The initial 15 boxes of White House documents that were turned over to the government before the August raid included 184 classified documents, including 25 marked as “top secret,” and some “contained what appears to be [Trump’s]

handwritten notes.”

The affidavit said the agency believed there was likely still classified material at Mar-A-Lago, and noted agents did not believe any space at Mar-A-Lago has been authorized as secure to store classified information since Trump left office.

Legal counsel for the DOJ sent a June letter to Trump’s attorneys asking for any stored documents to be “secured” and preserved in a storage room, noting that Mar-A-Lago “does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information.”

The affidavit cites a Breitbart piece and a letter from Trump’s attorney claiming that the ex-president had declassified all the materials found at Mar-A-Lago, but the government’s response to the article is redacted, though the affidavit does contain a footnote noting the federal statutes Trump may have violated do not apply only to classified documents.

In a separate court filing unsealed Friday, the DOJ justified the reasons for its redactions, including not wanting to expose a “significant number of civilian witnesses” and their identities or give parties information that could be used to obstruct the investigation, and noting that some FBI agents connected to the case have received threats already.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhardt ordered the document to be unsealed on Thursday after the government submitted its proposed redactions, though he agreed with the DOJ that the full unredacted document shouldn’t be released, as the government believed doing so would compromise its investigation.

Crucial Quote

“Based on the foregoing facts and circumstances, I submit that probable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation [of federal statutes] will be found at the PREMISES,” the affidavit, submitted by an FBI investigator to the court, states.

Chief Critic

“Affidavit heavily redacted!!!” Trump commented Friday on his social network Truth Social, noting his team “gave them much” and arguing there was nothing in the affidavit on the “total public relations subterfuge by the FBI & DOJ, or our close working relationship regarding document turnover.”

What We Don’t Know

What the rest of the redacted document says. In his ruling that ordered its release, Reinhardt noted that the government had redacted information in the affidavit that revealed the identities of any witnesses or other parties involved; any grand jury information and “the investigation’s strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods.” The DOJ has warned that making that information public would be “highly likely to compromise future investigative steps” and could get witnesses to stop cooperating with the probe, so that information most likely will not be known publicly while the investigation is still ongoing.

Key Background

The FBI searched Mar-A-Lago on August 8 in connection with an ongoing probe into White House documents Trump brought back with him to his Florida resort despite them being property of the National Archives. The tranche reportedly included hundreds of classified material—including those with the most top-secret classification—and the federal government searched Mar-A-Lago and recovered 20 additional boxes of materials in August after Trump had already turned over 15 boxes earlier in the year. The unprecedented search sparked widespread criticism from Republicans, who have demanded more transparency about the FBI’s investigation, and the DOJ has already unsealed its search warrant in the case. That showed investigators are looking into whether Trump violated three federal statutes, including the Espionage Act, and that classified materials at Mar-A-Lago that had not been turned over had been seized during the raid. Media outlets and the conservative group Judicial Watch had filed motions asking for the full affidavit to be unsealed after the search warrant was made public, given the limited scope of that document’s information.

DOJ Releases Redacted Mar-A-Lago Search Affidavit — Here’s What It Says