The Department of Justice refuses to publish the statement that justified Trump’s search

The United States Department of Justice, led by the attorney general, rejects the publication of the statement or affidavit with which he justified before the judge the need to register Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s mansion in Palm Beach (Florida). ). Faced with the formal request to the judge of numerous US media outlets to make this report public, the prosecution has shown its refusal. Donald Trump has not yet ruled on the matter, but many Republicans have criticized that it is not known and use it as an argument to insinuate that there are unspeakable reasons to hide it. “There are still compelling reasons, including protecting the integrity of a police investigation ongoing that involves national security, which support keeping the affidavit secret, “argues the Department of Justice. Both the prosecution and Trump agreed to publish the search warrant with its annexes and the inventory of assets seized by the agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This allowed us to know that Trump is being investigated for at least three possible crimes punishable by fines and/or long prison sentences and also that numerous documents classified as “top secret” were found in the registry. In a new compliment, Trump alleged on Friday that he had declassified those documents, although there is no documentary trace of it. What was not published was the report or affidavit in which the prosecution argues that there was sufficient evidence of a crime to proceed with the search of the house of a former president, something unprecedented in the history of the United States. In the document registered before the Florida judge handling the case, the Department of Justice points out that “the fact that this investigation involves highly classified materials underlines further the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential harm if information is prematurely or inappropriately disclosed to the public.” And it adds that “disclosure of the Government affidavit at this stage could also chill future cooperation from witnesses whose assistance may be requested as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations.” “The Government has an interest imperative and paramount in preserving the integrity of an ongoing criminal investigation,” he argues. Your response reveals that the report “contains, among other critically important and detailed investigative facts: highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government, specific investigative techniques, and information that is required by law to be kept private.” secret.” Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits. Subscribe which is very likely to compromise the future steps of the investigation”, maintains the Department of Justice. The prosecution assures that it has carefully studied whether the affidavit could be published with any part crossed out for reasons of confidentiality, but assures that “the omissions necessary to mitigating damage to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the text nte did not have significant content”. Even so, he requests that in the event that the judge allows the partial publication of the statement, he allows him to suggest which fragments to protect. The Department of Justice does see good that they are disseminated, and in fact requests that they be published, other documents related to the petition registration, the request for secrecy of the summary and the resolution of the judge that decrees it. Now, it is up to the judge to make a decision. Other requests In parallel to the request to the judge made by the media, congressmen from both the Republican and Democratic Parties have requested that the content of the report be known. Trump’s lawyers, for their part , have asked the judge to return seized documents that would violate the former president’s right to defense, the so-called attorney-client privilege, according to the conservative network Fox, although they have not specified what types of documents they are referring to nor have they given any evidence of “It has just been learned that the FBI, in their now famous Mar-a-Lago raid, took boxes of privileged attorney-client material,” Trump tweeted shortly after Fox broke the news. And he added: “I respectfully request that these documents be returned immediately.” Trump said in an interview on FOX on Monday that he was willing to do whatever was necessary to help “because the temperature has to go down in the country.” “If not, terrible things are going to happen,” he added. In that same interview he has suggested that the FBI planted false evidence in his house and that he is the victim of a witch hunt. And then he has continued to warm up his faithful on his social network He follows all the international information on Facebook and Twitter, or in our weekly newsletter.