The U.S. Justice Department opposes unsealing the affidavit that prosecutors used to obtain a search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, saying it would compromise future investigative steps.
On Friday, the Justice Department released a search warrant showing that FBI agents had taken 11 sets of classified records from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The documents were labeled as “top secret” and the Justice Department is investigating violations of three laws.
Including a provision in the Espionage Act that prohibits the possession of national defense information.
Documents marked ‘Top Secret’ and ‘SCI or Sensitive Compartments Information’ are typically kept in special secured government facilities because the leakage of the intel could cause greater than acceptable harm.
The Justice Department’s decision to seal the warrant was highly unusual and after a strong call to unseal it from both Republicans and media outlets the warrant was unsealed.
However, the Department Of Justice is fighting not to release the justification for the warrant.
“If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,” prosecutors wrote in their filing.
Several politicians both Federal and otherwise have said the timing of the warrant execution seems politically motivated. Since one of the likely Republican candidates in 2024 is Donald Trump.
For more on this story, please consider theses sources:
- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul calls for repeal of Espionage Act USA TODAY
- Sen. Rand Paul calls for repeal of the Espionage Act following FBI raid of Trump’s Florida estate Fox News
- Why Rand Paul wants the Espionage Act to be repealed NPR
- Mar-a-Lago FBI raid: Rand Paul calls for repeal of Espionage Act Business Insider
- Rand Paul mocked for call to repeal Espionage Act cited in Trump FBI warrant The Independent