A federal magistrate judge formally rejected the Justice Department’s bid to keep the affidavit leading to the FBI raid of Trump’s personal residence at Mar-a-Lago completely sealed, noting the “unprecedented” nature of the search and the “intense public and historical interest.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who signed off on the initial search warrant for the raid, issued a 13-page ruling on Monday morning finding the DOJ had not provided a strong enough argument for “keeping the entire Affidavit under seal.”
“The Government argues that even requiring it to redact portions of the Affidavit that could not reveal agent identities or investigative sources and methods imposes an undue burden on its resources and sets a precedent that could be disruptive and burdensome in future cases,” Reinhart wrote. “I do not need to reach the question of whether, in some other case, these concerns could justify denying public access; they very well might.”