Topline
With the Department of Justice set to release a redacted version of the affidavit that the FBI used to obtain a search warrant to raid former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, the online portal for accessing federal court documents crashed amid intense public interest in the case.
The PACER system used to view court records crashed on Friday, just as the redacted affidavit used … [+]
Key Facts
Posts on social media complained of a crash just after noon on Friday, as the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system was inundated with searches for the highly anticipated unsealed document.
A federal judge in Florida ordered the Justice Department on Thursday to make the redacted version of the affidavit public “on or before noon” ET on Friday.
The PACER system came back online roughly 30 minutes after the crash.
Key Background
The Department of Justice has called the document a “roadmap” to the government’s ongoing investigation into boxes of government documents Trump had taken from the Oval Office to his Florida home. DoJ officials also protested in court filings that the affidavit could reveal information about potential witnesses in the investigation. The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, reportedly after a suspected informant informed the agency Trump had a tranche of classified documents that had not been returned. The FBI seized 20 boxes in the search. The search warrant itself was unsealed last week, after the Justice Department and Trump’s attorneys approved the release.
Further Reading
Justice Department Must Release Redacted Mar-A-Lago Search Affidavit, Judge Rules (Forbes)
Search Warrant Unsealed In FBI’s Trump Mar-A-Lago Raid (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/08/26/federal-court-records-system-crashes-with-doj-set-to-release-mar-a-lago-affidavit/