The US Department of Justice is investigating Donald Trump over the removal of records from the White House. For this reason, the ex-president's property in Florida is under investigation. Trump defends himself against it with all his means and lets his lawyers file the next application with the court.
Former US President Donald Trump has filed a "supplementary" motion in court. In it he asks the court to prevent the government from examining the documents seized in Mar-a-Lago until a third party, a so-called "Special Master", can be appointed. This is to independently monitor the examination of the documents.
Trump had already made a similar request on Monday, but the responsible district judge had asked for more information. Trump's attorneys have now said their motion should be granted because the statement released on which the August 8 search of Trump's Florida home was based had been over-redacted. It contains "almost no information that would allow (Trump) to understand why the raid took place or what was taken from his home." The few lines that are not blacked out raise more questions than answers.
Earlier, Trump had asked the judge who authorized the search of his Florida home to resign. "Judge Bruce Reinhart should never have allowed my home to be broken into," Trump wrote on social media. Trump did not give a reason for the judge's resignation. So far, his lawyers have not made such a request.
Trump also complained that the document released on Friday at the direction of Judge Reinhart, on which the search warrant for Trump's home was based, was heavily redacted. The US Department of Justice initially opposed publication of the document, but had to follow Judge Reinhart's instruction to publish a redacted version. The redactions are intended to protect witnesses and ongoing investigations.
The 32-page document contains, among other things, the affidavit of an unnamed FBI official. In it, the man said the agency reviewed and identified 184 documents with "classification marks" containing "national defense information" in 15 boxes of government records returned by Trump in January. They had been requested from the US National Archives. Other papers in those boxes bore handwritten notes by Trump, according to the affidavit. The affidavit also said the FBI, after reviewing this material, had reason to believe there were other documents at Mar-a-Lago. The document also revealed that a "substantial number of civilian witnesses" who were aware of Trump's actions after leaving office supported the investigation.
The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that it was investigating former President Donald Trump over the removal of documents from the White House. The department believes Trump was illegally in possession of documents, some of which pertain to the collection of intelligence information and "secret human sources." Such information is among the most closely guarded secrets in the United States. During a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, FBI officials had seized 11 containers of classified records, including some classified as "top secret."
