A federal judge on Tuesday unsealed additional sections of an FBI affidavit that set the stage for a search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, showing that agents earlier obtained a hard drive after subpoenaing surveillance video recorded inside the Mar-a – Lago. A heavily redacted version of the affidavit was released last month, but the Justice Department asked for permission to show more of it after Trump’s lawyers disclosed the existence of a June subpoena seeking surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago grounds. warehouse. “Because these aspects of the grand jury investigation have now been publicly disclosed, there is no longer any reason to keep them sealed (i.e., redacted) in the records on this matter,” department attorneys wrote. Newly seen portions of the FBI agent’s affidavit show that the FBI on June 24 called for the video after a visit weeks earlier to Mar-a-Lago, where agents noticed 50 to 55 boxes of files in the property’s storage area . The Trump Organization provided a hard drive on July 6 in response to the subpoena, the affidavit states. Is Donald Trump special? Question at the heart of the prosecution of a former president Coyne: Donald Trump’s date with reality may be fast approaching The video could be an important piece of the investigation as agents assess whether anyone has attempted to obstruct the investigation. The Justice Department said in a separate filing that it “developed evidence that government records were likely hidden and removed from the Vault and that efforts were likely made to obstruct the government’s investigation.” The Justice Department is investigating the possession of top-secret information and other classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House. FBI agents during their Aug. 8 search of the home and club said they discovered more than 11,000 documents and 1,800 other items, including about 100 marked classified. Separately on Tuesday, the Justice Department again urged U.S. District Elaine Cannon to withdraw her commitment to key aspects of the investigation. Cannon last week granted the Trump team’s request for an independent arbitrator to review the seized documents and eliminate from the investigation any records that may be covered by executive or attorney-client claims. He also ordered the department to stop reviewing the records pending any further court orders or the completion of a review by the yet-to-be-named special master. The department urged Cannon last week to put her order on hold and told the judge Tuesday that her investigation would be harmed by the continued delay in her ability to review classified documents. “The government and the public clearly have an interest in the timely enforcement of criminal laws, particularly those that concern the protection of highly sensitive information, and especially where, as here, there may have been attempts to obstruct their investigation,” the lawyers wrote. Trump’s team on Monday urged the judge to let its order stand. His lawyers raised questions about the documents’ current classification status and noted that a president has absolute power to declassify information, though they did not say Trump had actually declassified anything.
