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Friday’s unsealing of the affidavit tied to the FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate has raised more questions than answers.
West Palm Beach US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhardt had ordered the Justice Department earlier in the week to prepare a redacted version of the document in which authorities laid out their reasons for the controversial Aug. 8 search-and-seizure operation at Mar-a-Lago.
Friday’s unsealing came amid what Reinhardt called “intense public and historical interest” into the raid. The feds have described their probe as centering on the alleged mishandling of classified information, theft of government records and obstruction of justice.
But huge portions of the 38-page affidavit were blacked out, including vast swaths — and multiple entire pages — under the heading “PROBABLE CAUSE,” with even the name of the FBI agent who signed it redacted.
Here’s some of what remains unknown:
Reports have said an informant tipped off authorities about official documents that remained in Trump’s possession even though they were supposed to have been turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration when he left office last year.
Earlier this month, former Trump administration acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told CNN that the informant would have to “be someone who was handling things on day to day, who knew where documents were.
“My guess is there’s probably six or eight people who had that kind of information,” he said.
In a separate document unsealed Friday, the Justice Department said it redacted certain information from the affidavit to “protect the safety and privacy of a significant number of civilian witnesses, in addition to law enforcement personnel, as well as to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation.
