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There has been a lot of breathless speculation about the recent search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida property related to the potential mishandling of classified documents. And while more and more details have come to light, there is still much the public doesn’t know. Unsealing the affidavit used as the basis for the search, or at least parts of this document, can help in that regard.
So we are encouraged that Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart thinks “there are portions of it that can be unsealed” and has instructed the Department of Justice to prepare a redacted version of the affidavit to potentially be unsealed, an apparent attempt to balance the integrity of the ongoing investigation with the public’s interest in having information about this unprecedented situation.
And there should be little doubt that the search of a former U.S. president’s home as part of an investigation like this is unprecedented and brings significant public interest with it. The Department of Justice has acknowledged as much.
“There is heightened interest,” DOJ prosecutor Jay Bratt conceded in court on Thursday while arguing that the affidavit should remain sealed, as reported by the Associated Press. “This is likely an unprecedented situation.”
To be clear, the Department of Justice has already taken some steps to promote transparency and the public’s access to information in this case by filing a motion to unseal the search warrant and receipt of property taken from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence (which lists classified material among its contents). And we can appreciate that there is a delicate balance in terms of not compromising an ongoing investigation, such as information about witnesses.
As a collection of media organizations argued convincingly to Reinhart, however, there is a compelling need for the public to have more information. Trump has also publicly called for the affidavit to be unsealed, though his attorney interestingly was present at the court hearing Thursday but did not make any arguments.
In the media companies’ court filing, they argued the public should be able to see “the government’s basis for the extraordinary step of seeking the warrant to search a former president’s home.”
“We, the people, are the ultimate stakeholders,” Chuck Tobin, a lawyer representing several news organizations, said Thursday. “Transparency serves the public interest in understanding the results. You cannot trust what you cannot see.”
We agree with these assessments, and hope that Reinhart’s order for the DOJ to produce a redacted version of the affidavit by Thursday, Aug. 25 will lead to the public gaining access to as much information as possible, as soon as possible.
In the absence of this additional information, it seems more likely to us that the irresponsible speculations and unfounded accusations, particularly from Trump himself, will continue to take hold.
For all the talk about this being an unprecedented situation, people also shouldn’t forget that an unprecedented investigation could potentially be the necessary response to unprecedented actions. But in the absence of more information, it is hard to know either way. Access to the affidavit, at least parts of it, can help us all wade through this weighty question of national importance — and to do so based on facts rather than speculation.
