The Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly told U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart Thursday that it wants the affidavit that authorized a search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home sealed for fear he will destroy documents.
The report, by Mark Meredith of Fox News, came as Reinhart indicated that he was prepared to release portions of the affidavit, giving the DOJ one week to prepare redactions to the text. Meredith (via legal scholar Jonathan Turley) reported:
Fox's Mark Meredith just reported that the released material on the warrant referred to the need for a seal was to prevent material from being destroyed…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 18, 2022
As Turley noted, however, the DOJ’s argument, if delivered as reported, was odd, because it placed less emphasis on protecting confidential informants (CI’s) and other aspects of the ongoing investigation. Turley observed:
…I would have expected the emphasis to be on the ongoing investigation and CI protection. The threat of destruction raises whether the affidavit included allegations of destruction or the threat of destruction at Mar-a-Lago…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 18, 2022
…Notably, the search occurred after the media ran accounts (denied by Trump) that the former president routinely destroyed documents and flushed them down the toilet.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 18, 2022
Turley referred to a report at Axios.com on August 8 showing photos of torn documents in a toilet. However, as Breitbart News was first to report, the warrant was approved on August 5, three days before Axios ran the story about documents allegedly being flushed.
The DOJ seized many boxes of materials from Trump’s residence, including some boxes with classified markings. Trump says that he declassified any and all materials at Mar-a-Lago, and that classified documents had previously been given to federal authorities.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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