If the previous president has access to the information, the criminal investigation that is currently being conducted into the former president could be compromised, according to the lawyers working for the Justice Department.
On Tuesday, attorneys for former President Donald Trump made a request to a federal judge in Florida to unseal the probable cause document that details the criminal investigation into their client that is being conducted by the Justice Department.
Just a few hours before a federal appeals court was scheduled to hear arguments that Trump’s underlying case demanding access to items that federal agents seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort should be dismissed, the attorneys for Trump filed the motion with Judge Aileen Cannon requesting that the case be thrown out.
Late in the month of August, the public saw a version of the search warrant affidavit that had been redacted. Officials from the Justice Department said that disclosing any additional information about their evidence and witnesses in the case could put their ongoing criminal investigation and the safety of witnesses in jeopardy.
In a court filing from August, prosecutors stated that disclosing the affidavit “would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps.” “If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course,”
The attorneys for Donald Trump said on Tuesday in a court filing that they and their client need to be able to study the document in order to determine whether or not their rights to reasonable search and seizure have been violated. They did so while brushing aside the concerns of the government.
“The entirety of the situation has been discussed in the media, primarily as a result of leaks coming from the government. There is no cause for alarm regarding the possible exposure of the nature and extent of the inquiry, nor is there any possibility that witnesses will be coerced “according to the filing, because the unredacted version of the document would not be made available to the general public.
A representative for the Department of Justice declined to comment on the matter.
There have been previous allegations that Trump attempted to influence or intimidate witnesses. It was suggested earlier this year by the House committee that is investigating the riot that took place on January 6 at the United States Capitol that Trump allies had been trying to influence witnesses in their investigation. As president, Trump was accused of trying to intimidate witnesses testifying in his first impeachment trial, as well as trying to influence witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, including by dangling the prospect of a presidential pardon. The House committee that is investigating the riot also suggested earlier this year that Trump allies
In August, President Trump made a public request that the affidavit be released; however, the petition on Tuesday was the first time that his lawyers formally asked Cannon to unseal the unredacted version of the document.
In late August, the magistrate judge who approved the search warrant, Bruce Reinhart, made available a version of the affidavit that had been redacted in such a way as to conceal the information that the government was anxious about making public. It was clear from the evidence that Trump had been keeping secret papers under wraps ever since he departed the White House in January of 2021.
The request to Cannon was made not long before the attorneys for Trump and the Justice Department were scheduled to face each other in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to argue about Trump’s lawsuit.
The Department of Justice filed a petition with the appeals court requesting that the order issued by Judge Cannon appointing a special master in the case be overturned. The order prevented investigators from using thousands of documents recovered in their search on August 8 as part of their investigation until the review was completed. Earlier this year, attorneys for the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued a more limited appeal against the same order. They charged that the judge erred when she prohibited the federal government from reviewing classified documents seized during the search until the special master review was finished.
In September, the court of appeals issued a decision that was favorable to the DOJ.
The three judges who heard the case on Tuesday appeared to have a high level of skepticism toward President Trump’s arguments to allow the case to proceed. They pointed out that a ruling in his favor could open the floodgates for similar challenges from anyone who is the target of an investigation by the federal government.
A complaint made by Trump attorney Jim Trusty that extraordinary action was required in this case because federal investigators had gathered personal items like pictures of singer Celine Dion while they were executing a search warrant for government documents was apparently not convincing to one of the judges, who gave the impression that they were unimpressed by the argument.
“”This is a situation in which a political adversary has been the target of a search warrant, and thousands of items that are personal to the individual have been stolen,” Trusty said.
According to the response given by one of the judges, “the search warrant was for classified documents and boxes as well as other objects that are interspersed with them.” If unclassified documents and various types of personal property were found mixed together, I do not believe that it is inherently the responsibility of the government.”
Since the Trump move is a component of the case at hand, its viability would be rendered moot if the appeals court accepted the government’s request to throw out the primary challenge, which is currently being considered.