Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week that the DOJ did not oppose the release warrant, which was the basis of the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
AG GARLAND:
“I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.” pic.twitter.com/BAtUwzAdz5
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 11, 2022
The DOJ is not being transparent about crucial information. For example, why did they raid the house of Donald Trump’s former president? Trump had been cooperating with the National Archives’ efforts to recover documents. The DOJ has blocked the release of that affidavit because it contains the answer to this question.
“There are compelling reasons, including to preserve the integrity of an ongoing investigation by law enforcement that implicates national security,” DOJ lawyers stated Monday. They also indicated that they were open to redacting other documents. [….]
The Justice Department stated Monday that the government had carefully reviewed whether the affidavit could be released subjected to redactions. “The redactions required to mitigate harms in the integrity of the investigation will be so extensive that the remaining unsealed text would be devoid of any meaningful content and the release of such a redacted version would have no public interest.”
DOJ stated that, if the judge orders partial unsealing of an affidavit regardless, “the government respectfully requests an occasion to provide the Court proposed redactions.”
The affidavit is where the DOJ lists the probable cause they claim exists for the judge’s issuance of the warrant. Is there any evidence that Trump knew or cared to violate the alleged statutes You have evidence that Trump knew he had violated the alleged statutes?
Garland wanted to pretend they were being transparent and playing the aggrieved side when he spoke last Wednesday. They don’t believe they are obligated to explain to Americans why they did it to a former president. There could be some things they don’t want to make public for the sake of the investigation. It’s possible they are aware that once the item is released, people will examine it with a fine tooth comb. If it’s not up to standard, it’s going to cause problems. It’s reasonable to be concerned about past issues with the FBI, such as Kevin Clinesmith, an FBI lawyer, making a false statement before the FISA Court judge to obtain a warrant against Trump’s advisor.
When they have the information, this response won’t help. This will only raise more questions.
