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The Justice Department said in a new court filing Monday that it opposes an effort by multiple media organizations, including ABC News, to unseal the supporting affidavit behind the now-public search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
« There remain compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed, » the filing states.
In a footnote, department officials write that they « carefully considered » whether they could release the affidavit with redactions, but the redactions necessary to « mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest. »
However, if the magistrate judge were to order the partial unsealing of the affidavit, « the government respectfully requests an opportunity to provide the Court with proposed redactions. »
The department also says that it does not object to the unsealing of other materials filed in connection with the search warrant, « whose unsealing would not jeopardize the integrity of this national security investigation, » but with minor redactions to protect government personnel.
