On Friday, a heavily redacted version of the federal affidavit used in the process of Justice Department personnel seeking a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago was released. It confirmed information identified as connected, either directly or more distantly, to clandestine human intelligence sources was found in 15 boxes recovered from the ex-president in January of this year.
Trump lashed out on his alternative social media platform Truth Social in the aftermath of the redacted affidavit coming out. “Affidavit heavily redacted!!!” Trump said Friday afternoon. “Nothing mentioned on “Nuclear,” a total public relations subterfuge by the FBI & DOJ, or our close working relationship regarding document turnover – WE GAVE THEM MUCH. Judge Bruce Reinhart should NEVER have allowed the Break-In of my home. He recused himself two months ago from one of my cases based on his animosity and hatred of your favorite President, me. What changed? Why hasn’t he recused himself on this case? Obama must be very proud of him right now!” The lengthy redactions in the document make clear that it’s actually unclear whether there’s any reference to concerns about nuclear weapons-related information potentially at Trump’s property.
What the unsealed affidavit reveals is that a wide variety of classified and highly guarded documents were found among items recovered from the former president in January of this year after months of communications between his team and the National Archives. The protective framework related to intelligence from clandestine human sources also covers information related to the gathering of such intelligence, and another designation discovered on documents recovered from Trump earlier in the year, months ahead of the raid, indicated the materials contained information collected in connection to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Other materials found in the 15 boxes from January were identified as NOFORN, meaning no foreign interest can access the materials without prior authorization from the originator of the information.
FBI agents conducting a preliminary examination in May of the boxes recovered in January also found signals intelligence, meaning information derived from intercepted foreign communications. Bruce Reinhart, the judge who approved the warrant for Mar-a-Lago, didn’t conclusively recuse himself from the lawsuit Trump referenced because of supposed animosity towards the former president. Reinhart never specified why he recused himself from the case, which alleged a RICO conspiracy among prominent Democrats including Hillary Clinton, but as POLIITICO notes: “In fact, it’s far likelier that he recused for a more mundane reason: a prior working relationship with one of the dozens of defendants in the case or their attorneys.”
