By René Garzke
This paper is clearly too hot for the top US investigators!
The Justice Department is resisting calls for the release of the document that investigators used to obtain the search warrant to raid ex-President Donald Trump (76).
The ministry said Monday the document must remain classified to protect “an ongoing investigation,” which also involves national security.
And further: The affidavit of the investigating authorities contains “extremely important and detailed investigative facts”, as well as “highly sensitive information about witnesses”.
If a court orders the document to be made public, so many passages would have to be redacted that the text would no longer have any meaningful content, the Justice Department said.
FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last Monday. The search warrant and a list of the documents seized were subsequently published.
FBI officers have issued a warrant to search Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida Photo: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS
During the search, the FBI seized a total of eleven classified documents. By taking her from the White House, Trump may have broken several laws, including the US Espionage Act.
Investigators also found Top Secret/SCI documents, which can only be viewed in special government facilities. The Washington Post reported that the FBI was also looking for papers on nuclear weapons.
Was Trump betrayed by his son-in-law?
Several US media and politicians from Trump’s Republican Party then demanded that the document requesting the search warrant be released. This affidavit of the investigators to the address of the responsible judge should contain a lot of information about the investigation.
In the past few days there had also been speculation that a mole from Trump’s inner circle could have revealed details to the investigators. Niece Mary suspects Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (41) of all people.
Trump is alleged to have illegally taken secret White House documents to Mar-a-Lago Photo: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS
The investigation is about documents that Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after the end of his term in January 2021. US Presidents are required to hand over all official documents, including e-mails and letters, to the National Archives upon leaving office.
Trump has described the search of his property as politically motivated. He alleges that President Joe Biden’s (79) Democrats are using the judiciary to prevent him from running for president again in 2024.
Trump said on Monday that the FBI also took his passports during the raid. “Wow! During the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three passports (one expired) along with everything else,” Trump wrote on the online network he founded, Truth Social. “This is an attack on a political opponent on a scale never seen in our country. Third World!”