Former President Donald Trump has asked a judge to unseal the affidavit central to last week’s FBI search of his Florida home, believing any information released about the probe into his handling of classified material will electrify his supporters. and it will benefit him politically, according to people he has spoken with in recent days. Some in Trump’s circle believe releasing the document would give him additional ammunition to attack the integrity of the Justice Department investigation. But others fear such a move could backfire because they don’t know exactly what it contains, these people said. Like others, they spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss their personal conversations with the former president. The Justice Department opposes the release of the Mar-a-Lago affidavit The affidavit, which likely contains witness names and other sensitive details about federal law enforcement’s methods and evidence, has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the ongoing criminal investigation stemming from Trump’s feud with the National Records relating to materials obtained from the White House during his tenure. it ended last year. After the Aug. 8 FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, several media outlets, including the Washington Post, asked a federal court there to release the affidavit. In arguing for the release of the document, lawyers for the news organizations cited the “historical significance of these events.” The Justice Department this week filed a motion to keep the document under seal. The affidavit, the officials argued, involved “highly classified information.” His release, they claim, could hinder the ongoing investigation, jeopardize the safety of named witnesses and require so many redactions that it would not enhance public understanding of the investigation. Then there’s Trump, who has a deep animosity for both institutions. Late Monday, in a post on the social networking site he started, Truth Social, the former president said that “in the interest of TRANSPARENCY,” the affidavit should be released unredacted. A former senior Justice Department official who followed the case closely cast doubt that there was anything “good” for the former president in the affidavit. “It’s an advocacy document,” this person said. Although “everything must be true, there is no exculpatory information. It’s never a good story for the accused.” Judge Bruce E. Reinhart scheduled a hearing for Thursday afternoon. Trump’s legal team has until Thursday morning to file a motion with the court if the former president plans to formally appeal his release. His lawyers had not done so by Tuesday afternoon. Trump search warrant focuses on classified information. What you need to know. Trump remains at Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, huddled with a group of aides. Much of his legal team is not there as the former president and his advisers seek to bring in new lawyers who have worked on high-profile cases involving the Justice Department and have experience in controversial cases in Florida, people familiar with the matter said. . Trump’s lawyers, these people added, have not been fully briefed on exactly what was taken from Mar-a-Lago, complicating discussions about the affidavit. In addition, there is some confusion in Trump’s orbit about how much legal trouble he or others close to him could face, people familiar with the matter said. Many of his close advisers said they did not know exactly what classified documents were stored in boxes at Mar-a-Lago, while others encouraged him last year to return materials taken from the White House, people familiar with the matter said. And surveillance video from Mar-a-Lago captured over 60 days and subpoenaed by the Justice Department shows people going in and out of the storage area where the classified documents were kept, a person familiar with the video said. A spokesman for the former president did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The intense public and political intrigue surrounding the affidavit has added to the pressure facing Attorney General Merrick Garland as the federal investigation continues, observers say. There may be an insatiable desire for more information, but the Justice Department “can’t be that interested in it,” said Matthew Miller, a former agency spokesman. “The Department of Justice is one of the few agencies that says transparency for transparency’s sake doesn’t always make sense — particularly in an ongoing situation,” he said. “They just have to do their job and if they get hit for not saying something to the public, they have to take a hit.” Other legal experts said the Justice Department’s reluctance to release the document is consistent with how the agency typically conducts investigations. And they noted that Garland — who makes relatively few public appearances — has already said more about this investigation than most. Last week, Garland made an unusual public statement to the Justice Department, announcing that he personally authorized the decision to seek judicial authorization for a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. He also called on a judge to release the search warrant and an inventory detailing the 11 sets of classified documents that agents recovered, but not the affidavit. Those documents showed that agents who went to Mar-a-Lago were looking for evidence of possible violations of federal statutes, including a section of the Espionage Act that makes it a crime to possess or share national defense secrets without authorization. “Merrick Garland has already spent a few more minutes talking about this publicly than he normally would,” said Stephen A. Salzburg, a law professor at George Washington University and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the George H. W. Bush administration. . “Submission to the department keeps research and sources confidential. What makes it stand out is that it’s the first time a former president’s home has been searched like this.” Helen Nakashima contributed to this report.
