U.S. judge says he leans toward releasing some evidence for Trump search

A U.S. judge onThursday said he is leaning toward releasing some of theevidence presented by the U.S. Justice Department to justify itssearch of Donald Trump's Florida home last week, in a casepitting news organizations against federal prosecutors.

Despite objections by the Justice Department, U.S.Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said he believes "there areportions of the affidavit that could be unsealed," referring tothe sworn statement laying out the evidence for why there wasprobable cause to search Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Reinhart ordered the Justice Department to file a redacted versionof the affidavit under seal by noon next Thursday, but said theJustice Department will be given the opportunity to appeal ifprosecutors don't agree with his proposed version.

The judge's order seemed to mark a victory for news outlets,who appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach on Thursday topersuade the judge that the public interest in the affidavitoutweighs the benefits of keeping it sealed.

The Justice Department opposes the release of the evidence.

Jay Bratt, a top Justice Department national security prosecutor, argued that the affidavit should remain hidden from the public. Unsealing it, he said, would provide a "road map" of the investigation which he said was in its "early stages" and expose the next steps to be taken by federal agents and prosecutors.

"There is another public interest at stake and that is thepublic interest that criminal investigations are able to goforward unimpeded," he said.

The Justice Department is investigating violations of threelaws, including a provision in the Espionage Act that prohibitsthe possession of national defence information and anotherstatute that makes it a crime to knowingly destroy, conceal orfalsify records with the intent to obstruct an investigation.

Media outlets press for release of records

Attorneys for several media outlets, including The New York Times, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, ABC News and NBC News, told Reinhart on Thursday that the public's right to know and the historic significance of the search outweigh any arguments to keep the records sealed.

"The public could not have a more compelling interest in ensuring maximum transparency over this event," said Charles Tobin, one of the attorneys arguing for the media companies.

Trump, in statements on social media, has called on the court to unseal the unredacted version of the affidavit "in theinterest of transparency."

But none of his attorneys have filed any motions asking the West Palm Beach federal court to do so. His attorneyChristina Bobb, however, was present in the courtroom on Thursday to observe the proceedings.

The former president says the search was politically motivated. He has also said, without providing evidence, that hehad a standing order to declassify the documents in question.

However, none of the three laws cited by the Justice Department in the search warrant require a showing that thedocuments were in fact classified.

Threats directed at FBI agents have increased since the raid.

In Ohio last week, police shot an armed man dead after he tried to breach an FBI building. A second man inPennsylvania, meanwhile, has since been charged with making threats against FBI agents.

Witness safetya concern, Justice Department says

Bratt said on Thursday that the two agents whose names appeared on a leaked copy of the unredacted warrant have also since received threats.

In addition, he said, theJustice Department "is very concerned about the safety of the witnesses in the case."

Trump's rhetoric against the FBI hascaught on with Republican voters, 54 per centof whom say federal law enforcement officials behaved irresponsibly in the case, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this week.

The Mar-a-Lago search marked a significant escalation in one of the many federal and state investigations Trump is facing from his time in office and in private business. The Republican former president has suggested he might run for the White House again in 2024, but has not made any commitment.

WATCH| Trump under investigation forEspionage Act violations:

Trump under investigation for Espionage Act violations, FBI search warrant reveals

2 years ago

Duration 4:24

A U.S. federal judge unsealed the search warrant used on former U.S. president Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The Justice Department revealed a brief list of what FBI agents seized, which included 20 boxes of papers that could violate U.S. espionage laws.

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland took the highly unusual step of publicly moving to unseal the searchwarrant, two attachments and a redacted version of the receipt showing the items the FBI seized during its search on Aug. 8.

The records showed that the FBI seized boxes containing 11 sets of classified materials, some of which were labelled "top secret" the highest level of classification reserved for the most closely held U.S. national security information.

Such documents are typically kept in special government facilities because disclosure could cause gravedamage to national security.

Earlier this week, the Justice Department said it is open to releasing some additional redacted materials from the warrant, such as cover sheets, the government's motion to seal and the court's sealing order.

The media outlets in the case haveasked for those records to be unsealed as well.

At the start of Thursday's proceedings, Reinhart said he would unseal those other portions of the documents with someredactions.