US: Judge orders release of redacted Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit

US: Judge orders release of redacted Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit

Donald Trump

The US Department of Justice has been ordered to release a redacted version of an affidavit making the case for a raid of former president Donald Trump’s Florida home.

Judge Bruce Reinhart, who granted the search warrant for the unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, ruled after media companies sought to have the document unsealed.

The conglomeration of media companies submitted that there is “little interest in maintaining secrecy with respect to facts about the investigation that the government has already publicly confirmed to be accurate”, CNN reports.

Judge Reinhart said certain parts of the document would be redacted where “disclosure would reveal (1) the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, and uncharged parties, (2) the investigation’s strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods, and (3) grand jury information”.

The dramatic raid on Mar-a-Lago was part of a criminal investigation into Mr Trump’s handling of classified documents, which comes as he mulls a fresh bid for the presidency in the 2024 election.

If re-elected, Mr Trump would return to the White House at the age of 78, the same age President Biden was on becoming president in 2021.

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