Justice Department Opposes Release Of Mar-A-Lago Probable Cause Affidavit

The Department of Justice does not want the probable cause affidavit for the FBI raid of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida to be released to the public, according to CNN.

The affidavit details the arguments investigators made to a judge to justify their raid looking for classified documents.

Several news outlets and Republican lawmakers have called for the Justice Department to release the document to provide more transparency about the raid.

"I think releasing the affidavit would help. At least that would confirm that there was justification for this raid. But remember, this is also a case of where we're going to have more questions as they continue to develop, as they look through the information, the material that they've garnered at Mar-a-Lago," Senator Mike Rounds said on Meet the Press. "Perhaps they will share some of what their concern was. They'll share a little bit about the reason for actually going in and doing it this way."

In court filings, the Justice Department said that releasing the affidavit would "cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation." Officials said that if the document were to be released, it would have to be heavily redacted.

"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 Justice Department stated.