August 26, 2022

Just Released: Read the DOJ’s Redacted Affidavit for Searching Trump’s Estate

There’s “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found” at Mar-a-Lago, it states.

Jon Elswick/AP

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The Justice Department just released a redacted affidavit related to the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. The document provides more information about the justification for the warrant and the criminal investigation into confidential documents retrieved from the Florida estate. Affidavits typically remain sealed during pending investigations, but in this case the DOJ unsealed the affidavit in response to a court order following requests by media outlets to make the document public.

“[T]he materials the government marked for redaction…must remain sealed to protect the safety and privacy of a significant number of civilian witnesses, in addition to law enforcement personnel, as well as to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation and to avoid disclosure of grand jury material in violation of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure,” the DOJ said in a 14-page memo explaining the reasoning behind the redactions.

But despite the redactions, there were some interesting revelations that surfaced in the affidavit. “There is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified (National Defense Information) or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at [Mar-a-Lago],” the affidavit says. “There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found” there, it states. On Friday, Trump took to Truth Social to call the Justice Department and the FBI “political hacks and thugs” and criticized Judge Bruce Reinhart for allowing the raid. 

The affidavit shows that 14 out of 15 boxes recovered from Mar-a-Lago by the National Archives and Record Administration had 184 classified documents, 25 of which were marked as “top secret.” 

You can read the redacted affidavit here:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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