TV camera crews and national media members swarmed a federal Palm Beach courthouse on Thursday in anticipation of a judge’s ruling on whether to unseal an affidavit that preceded the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago this month.
Pro-Trump protesters joined into the fray, as media outlets seek to unseal information that laid the foundation for the extraordinary raid on the private Florida club where Trump lives and spends part of the year.
Trucks bearing Gadsden, U.S., and Trump 2024 flags were circling the area.
Justice Department official Jay Bratt, arguing in favor of the seal, said there was ‘real concern not just for the safety of these witnesses but to chill other witnesses who may come forward and cooperate,’ according to the Washington Post.
The investigation ‘in its early stages,’ he said, there was significant grand jury material that must remain under seal.
He said the specific information provided by sources could be used to out their identities, despite any efforts to redact material.
The affidavit would reveal the government’s claims of probable cause that a crime may have been committed relating to the removal and storage of a trove of classified material after former President Donald Trump left office.
The judge who approved the raid, and who allowed for the release of the search warrant that contained information about the trove of materials agents removed, was set to hear arguments at 1pm on releasing the foundational materials.
A view of the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, before a Federal judge holds a hearing on the motion to unseal the search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s home, in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. August 18, 2022. A judge will rule on whether to unseal an affidavit that preceded the raid
The Justice Department is resisting the move, which is being pursued by media outlets, arguing disclosure would harm the ongoing investigation.
‘The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials 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 improper,’ DOJ argued, pointing to the reliance on witness testimony.
Homeland Security Police officers stand guard outside the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, before a Federal judge holds a hearing on the motion to unseal the search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s home, in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. August 18, 2022
Trump lawyer Christina Bobb was in the courtroom, where media outlets were seeking to unseal information
A vehicle painted with the American flag drives past the Paul G. Rogers Federal Courthouse, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
DOJ said unsealing the affidavit posed a risk to witnesses
‘Before the events of this week, not since the Nixon Administration had the federal government wielded its power to seize records from a former President in such a public fashion,’ the media outlets argued in their own filing last week.
Trump attorney Christina Bobb, who was present during the raid earlier this month, said she planned to be in the courtroom overseen by US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart.
Homeland Security Police officers stand guard outside the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse amid the media interest in the case.
It came on a day when Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 counts of tax and financial fraud in a New York courthouse, just the latest in a skein of legal developments entangling Trump World.