Judge Orders DOJ to Respond to Motion to Unseal Mar-a-Lago Warrant And Make Public

Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart has ordered the Department of Justice to “file a Response to the Motion to Unseal” the Mar-a-Lago search warrant no later than August 15. The judge was responding to a motion from Judicial Warch.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said: “The Biden administration’s raid on President Trump’s home is an outrageous, reckless and unprecedented abuse of power. And the American people have an urgent right to know how it happened and who is responsible.”

Fitton’s organization issued a statement that said: “Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to unseal as soon as possible the search warrant materials used by the FBI to raid President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida (U.S. v. Sealed Search Warrant (Case No. 9:22-mj-08332)).

“According to media reports, the warrant relates to an alleged dispute over the Presidential Records Act. In its motion Judicial Watch states:

“Judicial Watch is investigating the potential politicization of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice and whether the FBI and the Justice Department are abusing their law enforcement powers to harass a likely future political opponent of President Biden.

“The public has an urgent and substantial interest in understanding the predicate for the execution of the unprecedented search warrant of the private residence of a former president and likely future political opponent.

“[N]o official explanation or information has been released about the search. As of the filing of this motion, the public record consists solely of speculation and inuendo.

“In short, the historical presumption of access to warrant materials vastly outweighs any interest the government may have in keeping the materials under seal.

“Given the political context, and the highly unusual action of executing a search warrant at the residence of a former President and likely future political opponent, it is essential that the public understands as soon as possible the basis for the government’s action.

“Any government interest in securing the identities of witnesses and confidential sources, if any, may be addressed by appropriate redactions from the search warrant affidavit,” the statement said.