Trump Raid Update!

We are aggressively fighting the Department of Justice to uncover all the details of the unprecedented August 8, 2022, raid on the home of former President Trump.

In a vindication of our efforts, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart issued a decision that rejected the out-of-hand Justice Department’s brazen play to keep the whole document secret. The Biden administration’s unprecedented and abusive raid on Trump’s home has created a crisis in the rule of law that can only be alleviated with transparency and accountability. We’re thrilled that Americans will get more of both with today’s court decision, finding that at least some more information about this terrible raid should be released.

Magistrate Reinhart had called for a hearing in West Palm Beach, FL, at which James Moon of the Meland Budwick, P.A. law firm in Miami, argued on our behalf. After the hearing the court issued an order that stated:

As I ruled from the bench at the conclusion of the hearing, I find that on the present record the Government has not met its burden of showing that the entire affidavit should remain sealed. It is ORDERED that by noon EST on Thursday, August 25, 2022, the Government shall file under seal its proposed redactions along with a legal memorandum setting forth the justification for the proposed redactions.

The court also ordered the release of other documents concerning the warrant.

Here’s what led up to this decision.

On August 9, we filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to unseal 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)).

On August 11, the DOJ filed a motion offering to unseal certain warrant materials.

On August 12, we filed President Trump’s public statement with the court, in which he made it clear that he would not oppose the release of documents related to the raid. Later that day, the DOJ made a partial release of the Trump raid warrant materials.

Initially, the Albany Times Union and the New York Times joined us in filing for the unsealing of the warrant by filing an amicus letter and motion respectively. Other interests later joined in the effort.

Magistrate Reinhart ordered the Justice Department to respond by August 15 to our Motion to Unseal the warrant and supporting materials behind the FBI raid. In its filing, the Justice Department alleged that releasing the affidavit would “cause significant and irreparable damage” to its ongoing criminal investigation.

On August 17, we submitted our reply to the DOJ’s effort to keep under seal the affidavit used to justify the raid.

The “criminal investigation” the Biden administration is covering up reeks of corruption and dishonesty – and is based on a reinvention of law about presidential records that is at odds with the U.S. Constitution, court rulings, federal statutes, and prior government legal positions and practice. No administration should be able to raid the home of a former president and putative presidential candidate based on ‘secret’ reasons.

We’re pleased that our legal pressure forced the partial release of warrant materials. The U.S. Constitution and federal law give unreviewable authority to President Trump to take whatever records he wishes at the end of his presidency. The Biden administration’s dishonest depiction of personal records of President Trump it illicitly seized during the raid as “classified” is further demonstration that the raid was a brazen act of raw political abuse.

The battle for transparency and accountable will continue and require much heavy lifting by your Judicial Watch legal team. If this current crisis doesn’t convince you of the need for Judicial Watch, I’m not sure what will! I encourage to join our cause and support our work directly here.  In the meantime, we will keep you abreast of breaking developments in the Biden administration’s attack on President Trump and the rule of law.

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