U.S. Justice Dept opposes unsealing affidavit used to search Trump’s home

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday said it opposes requests by the news media to unseal the affidavit that prosecutors used to obtain a federal judge’s approval to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida home. In a court filing, prosecutors said they will not oppose the release of other sealed documents tied to the search, such as cover sheets and the government’s motion to seal.

But releasing the affidavit itself could harm the ongoing investigation, the department said. “If disclosed, 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,” prosecutors wrote in their filing.

Trump’s Republican allies in recent days have ramped up their calls for Attorney General Merrick Garland to unseal the document, which would reveal the evidence that prosecutors showed to demonstrate they had probable cause to believe crimes were committed at Trump’s home — the standard they had to meet to secure the search warrant. On Friday, at the Justice Department’s request, a federal court in south Florida unsealed the search warrant and several accompanying legal documents that showed that FBI agents carted away 11 sets of classified records from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Some of the records seized were labeled as “top secret” – the highest level of classification reserved for the most closely held U.S. national security information.

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