Status: 08/26/2022 01:30 a.m
After the raid on ex-US President Trump’s residence, the Justice Department has to publish parts of the document with which the authorities had obtained the search warrant. However, many passages may be blacked out.
The US Department of Justice has been forced to release an edited version of its statement regarding the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home. A US judge ordered this and set the ministry a deadline of noon (local time).
The Ministry of Justice had resisted the publication of the document in order to keep important information about the ongoing investigation under wraps. It also argued that in the event of publication, so many passages would have to be blacked out that the text would hardly be meaningful.
Trump kept top secret documents
FBI officers searched Trump’s Florida home on August 8. During the raid, they confiscated numerous boxes of documents, including those classified as “top secret.” Among other things, Trump is suspected of violating an espionage law. It contains strict guidelines for the retention of national security documents.
The search warrant has already been released. The document, on the basis of which the search warrant was obtained, would probably name the allegations against Trump even more specifically and also reveal possible witnesses. The judge therefore now agreed that important passages of the document are blacked out.
The investigation is about documents that Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after the end of his term in January 2021. US Presidents are required to hand over all official documents, including e-mails and letters, to the National Archives upon leaving office.
Ex-president sees political campaign
Trump has repeatedly described the search of his villa as politically motivated. He accuses President Joe Biden’s Democrats of using the judiciary to prevent him from running for president again in 2024.