9 a.m. Pacific time
Tomorrow is going to be interesting.
A federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered that a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain a warrant for former President Donald J. Trump’s Florida residence be unsealed by noon on Friday — paving the way for the disclosure of potentially revelatory details about a search with enormous legal and political implications.
It will be heavily redacted to protect people Trump is going to want to have killed.
Justice Department officials had previously suggested they will abide by [the judges’] general guidance but push hard to scrub anything that could expose witnesses in the case to intimidation or retribution by Mr. Trump’s supporters. After the search at Mar-a-Lago, the F.B.I. reported a surge in threats against its agents; an armed man tried to breach the bureau’s Cincinnati field office, before being killed in a shootout with the local police.
They want to protect the gang boss.
I would temper your expectations. The judge approved all of DOJ’s proposed redactions. I suspect that means that not just the names and details that would identify sources will be redacted, but pretty much anything that shows what DOJ has on him.
There’s a good chance that there is no material information in there that isn’t already public knowledge or else standard warrant boilerplate. I expect it to be pretty uninteresting and anticlimactic, but I’m mostly speculating here.
Not all that interesting then. Ah well…I can wait.
I’m lots of fun at parties, too.
It’s ok Screechy, you and I and latsot and probably a few others from here can all stand in a corner and be curmudgenly together. I suspect we’d do it quite well.
Curmudgeonolandia, that’s what this place is. If you have a cur to mudge come right over here and sit by me.
Et voila!
Although it seems that that document is not the affidavit itself, but rather a (heavily redacted) letter to the court explaining why the government doesn’t want to release the affidavit, at least without heavy redactions.
But I’m no lawyer.
While Screechy’s point has been borne out, I don’t think the release will be completely without impact. Sure, it won’t be the grand reveal many of us might hope for, but it’s important to remember that, as hard as it is to comprehend, there’s still a sliver of folks out there who are neither totally convinced of Trump’s epic corruption, nor are dedicated Fifth Avenuers. “Confirming what we already know” by putting it out as an official document (instead of simple statements or talking-head media analysis), for these folks, means that at least a few will decide that the matter has weight.
And since the end-game is to get a jury of people with no Fifth Avenuers on it, every little bit helps.
After reviewing the affidavit (it’s here, the link @6 is to something else), I would say it’s not a completely uninformative nothingburger, but not terribly illuminating or new.
My notes:
— A criminal investigation was opened after the return of the 15 boxes. In other words, it’s not just the discovery that Trump continued to withhold documents that triggered a criminal inquiry.
— Of the 15 boxes that Trump voluntarily turned over, there were 67 documents marked confidential, 92 marked secret, and 25 top secret. Many also carried other designations, including those relating to human intelligence (i.e. sources)
— According to the FBI agent, many of the documents contain national defense information, which is a basis for criminal liability separate and apart from any classification status (this is not really new info)
— The classified documents were not kept in any orderly fashion and were interspersed with other nonclassified materials
— some of the documents bear what appear to be Trump’s handwritten notes (unclear whether those notes were made during his time in office or later)
— Trump’s counsel wrote a letter to investigators pointing out the president’s authority to declassify, and demanded that the letter be provided to any court. The DOJ did in fact attach the letter to the warrant application; Trump’s position was not “hidden” from the judge
None of the unredacted portions shed any light on how DOJ came to believe there were additional materials being withheld. Unsurprising as that would reveal sources and methods.
Yeah, I was misled by the Guardian.
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