Judge Does Not Rule Out Forcing DOJ to Disclose Mar-a-Lago Affidavit, Gives One Week to Propose Redactions

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart took the unusual step of indicating a willingness to release the probable cause affidavit submitted to his court to obtain the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, ordering the Department of Justice to submit proposed redactions within a week.

Earlier this week, the DOJ filed a motion objecting to the release of the affidavit, saying that it “would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,” further citing the involvement of “highly classified materials” as a factor that “further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly.”

Both Judge Reinhart and some of the FBI agents involved in executing the warrant have been targeted by threats and harassment.

A coalition of media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, CBS, and NBC, filed a motion on Wednesday supporting the release of the affidavit, arguing that the “public has a ‘clear and powerful’ interest in understanding the unprecedented investigation in former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of classified records.”

NBC News reporter Cal Perry was at the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Fla. to cover the case, and reported live on MSNBC Thursday shortly after the hearing adjourned.

The DOJ had until noon ET next Thursday, Aug. 25, to file its proposed redactions, Perry told anchor Katy Tur. The judge will then submit his own redactions and all parties will have an opportunity to object to the judge’s version in next week’s hearing.

“We suspect after that they will release a heavily, I would assume, redacted version of that affidavit,” said Perry, adding that the media outlets’ lawyers agreed this was the best way forward.

Tur discussed the judge’s decision with her panel, covering the uniqueness of the case, the issues Attorney General Merrick Garland might consider in trying to “lower the temperature” and attempt to soothe the DOJ’s critics, and noting that Trump himself had not filed anything supporting the release of the affidavit.

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.