The Department of Justice is trying to keep the affidavit arguing probable cause for a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago sealed on Monday, asking a judge to so order because obviously they have nothing to hide.
The warrant, which was unsealed, said the search was related to things such as violation of the Espionage Act. The press has been having a field day claiming President Trump was compromising nuclear codes and selling lists of American spies to Saudi Arabia and other perfectly normal stuff, so it makes perfect sense to keep the whole thing super secret due to some bs about the so-called “intagrity of the “ongoing investigation.”
NEW: Federal prosecutors ask judge to keep Trump search warrant affidavit sealed "to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security."
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) August 15, 2022
Sen. Mike Rounds on Sunday called for the unsealing, saying that “releasing the affidavit would help, at least that would confirm that there was justification for this raid.”
And Rep. Mike Turner of the House Intelligence committee said yesterday: “Congress is saying, ‘Show us. We want to know what did the FBI tell them? What did they find?”
But the Biden-Garland DOJ? Yeah they aren’t interested.
They write, "Disclosure at this juncture of the affidavit supporting probable cause would, by contrast [to previously unsealed filings], cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation."
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) August 15, 2022
““There remain compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed,” the DOJ lawyers said.
“The government has carefully considered whether the affidavit can be released subject to redactions,” said the Department. “The redactions necessary to mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest.”
This is bad, folks. And if a judge does order it unsealed they are requesting unlimited ability to redact.
Not. Good.