Trump’s legal woes enter yet another protracted phase
Trump’s legal woes enter yet another protracted phase
The former president demanded transparency around the search of Mar-a-Lago. He didn’t get quite that. Nor did he get closure.
Paul G. Rogers Federal Courthouse is shown Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, in West Palm Beach, Fla. | Marta Lavandier/AP Photo
By NICHOLAS WU, ANDREW DESIDERIO, KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN
08/18/2022 12:32 PM EDT
Updated: 08/18/2022 01:39 PM EDT
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Donald Trump entered Thursday demanding answers about the basis for the FBI search of his private residence and calling for a swift end to the investigation. Instead, the former president got few new details about the probe and a piece of unwelcome news to boot: the feds are just getting started.
That was the message from top Justice Department prosecutors during an hour-long federal court hearing Thursday over whether to publicly release elements of the probable-cause affidavit that led to the unprecedented search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. And it’s the latest sign that the Trump legal controversies that have clouded Washington for years may be entering a new protracted chapter.
Trump has ricocheted from one legal crisis to another since 2015. But now, in addition to a grand jury probe of his efforts with allies to disrupt the 2020 transition of power, and an Atlanta-area election investigation that also may result in criminal charges, he is staring down a Justice Department review of his handling of classified documents that could present the most acute legal threat of all.
But he’s not the only one in a vise. With Trump weighing a comeback bid for the presidency, the Mar-a-Lago matter also presents great risks for the Justice Department, where Attorney General Merrick Garland has already made a break from history by agreeing to release the search warrant itself. Though institutionalists within DOJ are unlikely to welcome efforts to unseal even more details — a fact underscored during Thursday’s hearing — Garland has already made clear the Trump probe is unique and may warrant more disclosures than the department typically allows.
At Thursday’s proceedings, the Justice Department’s top counterintelligence official, Jay Bratt, repeatedly emphasized that the investigation into the former president’s handling of classified White House records “is in its early stages.” Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who authorized the search on Aug. 5, ordered prosecutors to propose redactions to the affidavit by next week, indicating that he was skeptical of the Justice Department’s arguments to keep those documents under seal. He set a deadline of next Thursday for prosecutors to propose redactions to the affidavit.
“I’m not prepared to find the affidavit should be fully sealed,” Reinhart said.
But Reinhart also signaled he would likely allow significant redactions, and a final resolution on the issue of public access to the pivotal court filing may still be a long way off.
“This is going to be a considered, careful process where everyone’s rights are going to be protected,” he said.
For Trump world, the proceedings were treated as a mixed bag. His team had demanded the release of the full affidavit — a low-risk proposition, given the likelihood that DOJ would resist. And they applauded the judge for rejecting the notion that it should be kept under wraps entirely.
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But Trump had earlier called for the release of the search warrant, only to result in Garland unexpectedly doing so. In the process, it was revealed that the FBI was investigating potential violations of the Espionage Act and the Presidential Records Act, as well as obstruction of justice.
There remains, moreover, no indication that Reinhart will agree to the type of disclosure Trump’s team is demanding. DOJ has indicated that the release of the affidavit might compromise witnesses who helped form the basis of their suspicions.
“This is not a precedent that we want to set,” Bratt indicated.
And the judge indicated he may also hold a closed-door hearing on the matter with prosecutors if he opts against keeping the entire document under seal. The department could also appeal an unfavorable ruling. DOJ has already made clear that any proposed redactions “would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content.”
Thursday’s hearing at the federal courthouse was convened hastily as Reinhart sought arguments from the Justice Department as well as lawyers representing a conglomerate of media organizations requesting that the affidavit be released publicly.
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