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The U.S. Justice Department has refused to publicly support an affidavit for a search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate.
They said the investigation “involved highly classified material” that contained sensitive information about witnesses.
The administration’s objection comes in response to court filings by several news organizations, including the Associated Press, that seek to unblock the basic oath the Justice Department submitted earlier this month when it requested a search of Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Book.
Court documents — U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez from Miami and Jay Blatter, a senior national security official at the Justice Department — argued that the public affidavit would “create significant and significant consequences for the ongoing criminal investigation.” irreparable damage”.
The document details “highly sensitive information about witnesses,” including those who have been interviewed by the government, and contains classified grand jury information, prosecutors said.
The government told a federal magistrate judge that prosecutors believe some additional records should now be released, including the cover of the arrest warrant and the government’s request to seal the documents.
A property receipt unsealed Friday showed the FBI seized 11 sets of classified documents, some marked not only top secret but also “sensitive compartmentalized information,” a special program designed to protect the nation’s most important secrets. category, if public disclosure could result in “particularly serious” harm to U.S. interests.
Court records did not provide specific details about the information the documents might contain.
The Justice Department acknowledged Monday that its ongoing criminal investigation “involves highly classified material.”
The search warrant, also unsealed on Friday, said federal agents were investigating possible violations of three different federal laws, including one governing the collection, transmission or loss of defense information under the Espionage Act.
Other regulations deal with the concealment, destruction or deletion of records and the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations.
The Mar-a-Lago search warrant executed last Monday was part of the Justice Department’s investigation into classified White House records found from Trump’s home earlier this year.
The National Archives has asked the department to investigate after it said 15 boxes of records retrieved from the estate included classified records.
It was unclear whether the Justice Department was simply using the warrant as a means of retrieving records, as part of a broader criminal investigation, or trying to indict the former president.
Several federal laws govern the handling of classified information, including criminal and civil penalties, and presidential records.
But the Justice Department argued in Monday’s filing that its investigation was ongoing and that releasing more information would not only compromise the investigation, but also expose witnesses to threats or prevent others from coming forward and cooperating with prosecutors.
“If disclosed, the affidavit will serve as a roadmap for the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and possible course in a manner that will most likely affect future steps of the investigation,” the government wrote in court filings.
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