The Department of Justice said in a court filing they oppose the release of an affidavit related to the FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate.
The Department argued the release of the affidavit would “cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.”
“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,” the DOJ said in the filing, according to CNN. “The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly.”
“The redactions necessary to mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest,” the DOJ added.
Republican leaders had called for the release of the affidavit following the unprecedented search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
This is a breaking news update.
