The back and forth between Donald Trump, the FBI and the Department of Justice (DoJ) appears to be getting intense by the day. Reportedly, the DoJ on Monday stated that it opposed the unsealing of the affidavit which was used to secure the federal judge’s permission to obtain a search warrant against the former President.
“If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,” the DoJ lawyers wrote in the filing.
The decision to not unseal the affidavit comes in stark contrast with the confidence shown by Attorney General Merrick Garland who publically announced that he had approved of the search warrant and that his department was willing to go public with it as well.
Even when questioned during his brief presser last week, Garland did not give much regarding the ‘evidence’ used to obtain the warrant.
“Much of our work is by necessity conducted out of the public eye. We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations.” said Garland.
Read More: Department of Justice to unseal Trump’s search warrant, says Attorney General Merrick Garland
Republicans want DoJ to release the affidavit
Ever since the August 8 raid took place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club cum residence, his allies have been drumming up the issue, asking the Justice Department to reveal the affidavit which will show the evidence that prosecutors used as ‘probable cause’ to obtain the warrant.
According to the warrant released, the FBI is circling Trump, mainly around the Espionage Act after the former President took several boxes from his White House residence to his current Florida residence after losing the elections.
Return the boxes: Donald Trump
Meanwhile, Trump continues to maintain that there are no classified documents and that some of the boxes taken away by the DoJ should be returned as they are protected under Attorney-Client privilege.
According to Trump’s side, boxes labelled A-14, A-26, A-43, A-13, A-33 and other sets of documents contained information that was protected under attorney-client privilege.
Read More: Trump ‘requests’ Justice Department to return seized ‘privileged’ documents
My passports stolen by the FBI: Trump
Furthermore, earlier in the day, Trump claimed that his ‘passports’ had been ‘stolen’ by the FBI agents during the raid.
“Wow! In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else. This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country. Third World!” said the Republican leader on his social media platform.
Trump, however, did not make it clear which one of his passports was taken away by the FBI. Reportedly, a blue passport is issued to regular civilians in the USA while a red ‘diplomatic’ passport is issued for official government travel.
Read more: Donald Trump claims his passports ‘stolen’ by FBI agents during the August 8 raid
(With inputs from agencies)
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