Former President Trump called for the immediate release of the “completely unredacted” Mar-a-Lago affidavit in a late night post on Truth Social.
Trump said the move would be in the interest of “TRANSPARENCY.”
“There is no way to justify the unannounced RAID of Mar-a-Lago, the home of the 45th President of the United States (who got more votes, by far, than any sitting President in the history of our Country!), by a very large number of gun toting FBI Agents, and the Department of ‘Justice,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “But, in the interest of TRANSPARENCY, I call for the immediate release of the completely Unredacted Affidavit pertaining to this horrible and shocking BREAK-IN.”
Trump also called for the judge on the case to be recused from the case.
Trump’s post comes after the Justice Department filed a motion opposing the release of the affidavit that was used to justify the search of Mar-a-Lago.
“If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,” the 13-page filing says.
“The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly.”
A judge unsealed the search warrant and property receipt on Friday, which revealed that FBI agents seized approximately 20 boxes of items from Trump’s home, including one set of documents marked as “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which refers to top secret/sensitive compartmented information.
“The government determined that these materials could be released without significant harm to its investigation because the search had already been executed and publicly acknowledged by the former President, and because the materials had previously been provided to the former President through counsel,” the Justice Department wrote in Monday’s filing.
“Disclosure at this juncture of the affidavit supporting probable cause would, by contrast, cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.”
The Justice Department said Monday that it does not oppose the release of other documents, such as cover sheets for the warrant and the government’s motion to seal.
Other lawmakers have also called for the release of the affidavit and other documents supporting the search warrant from Trump’s home.
The issue now goes back to the magistrate judge, who may ask Trump’s team whether they would support the release of the affidavit.
For more on this story: Trump calls for Mar-a-Lago affidavit release, denounces FBI raid: “No way to justify”