Justice Department asks not to disclose affidavit behind Mar-a-Lago search
The US justice department asked a judge Monday to keep sealed the affidavit that gave the FBI probable cause to search Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort over his potentially unlawful retention of government secrets, aggravating distrust within the former president’s circle of political advisors.
The affidavit should not be unsealed because doing so could reveal the scope of the criminal investigation, justice department prosecutors argued in a court filing, days after the Mar-a-Lago search warrant showed it referenced potential violations of three criminal statutes.
Related: Trump demands return of seized documents – by order of social media
FBI agents a week ago seized around a dozen boxes of materials – including documents marked Top Secret – executing a search warrant which referenced the Espionage Act outlawing the unauthorized retention of national security information that could harm the United States or aid an adversary.
“The affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course,” the Justice Department said, adding that it did not oppose unsealing both a cover page and a sealing order that wouldn’t harm the criminal probe.
In arguing against unsealing the affidavit, the Justice Department also said that the disclosure could harm its ability to gain cooperation from witnesses not only in the Mar-a-Lago probe but also additional investigations that would appear to touch on the former president.
“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,” prosecutors added.
The existence of potential witnesses who could yet cooperate in a number of investigations against Trump – seemingly people with intimate knowledge of the former president’s activities – rattled close advisors once more Monday, further deepening distrust inside his inner political circle.
The lack of insight into what the Justice Department intends to do with the investigation into Trump’s unauthorized retention of government documents – including two passports – has deeply frustrated the Trump legal team and aides alike in a week of perilous moments for the former president.
At least one lawyer on the Trump legal team – led by former assistant US attorney Evan Corcoran, who also acted as the lawyer for Trump’s top former strategist Steve Bannon – has called up a reporter covering the story for any insight into how the Justice Department might next proceed.
It added to the already fraught atmosphere inside the reduced group of advisors who have day-to-day roles around Trump that erupted shortly after the FBI departed Mar-a-Lago and sparked suspicions that a person close to the former president had become an informant for the FBI.