A US federal judge on Thursday announced he would make public at least a portion of the affidavit outlining the evidence that prompted the FBI to search former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, the Wall Street Journal reported.
US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart stated, "I'm not prepared to find that the affidavit should be fully sealed," and provided the Justice Department with a week to determine which details should be kept confidential.
According to the report, the judge declared that, in his opinion, "there are portions of this affidavit that can be unsealed" after carefully reading it "many times."
Before the records are made available to the public, Judge Reinhart said he would evaluate the suggested redactions and allow the government the opportunity to appeal his decision on which ones were appropriate.
During the hearing, a Justice Department official was concerned that unsealing the affidavit would jeopardize the ongoing investigation into the former president's handling of classified information.
"This is going to be a considered, careful process, where everybody’s rights, the government’s and the media’s, will be protected," the judge stated.
The ruling recognized the possibility of certain redactions while striking a balance between the Justice Department's request to keep the whole document sealed and news media organizations' desire for the information to be made public.
Despite the Justice Department's efforts to keep the document sealed due to the "highly classified material" it contains, the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the broadcast TV networks, CNN, and other media outlets pleaded with Judge Reinhart to do so, as "the matter is one of utmost public interest, involving the actions of current and former government officials," per one of the attorneys.
The document purportedly contains information on how the FBI obtained probable cause for their search, which resulted in them removing more than twenty boxes from the estate, including eleven sets of classified documents, some of which were reportedly marked top secret.
It also is said to detail the evidence the government had gathered, including any testimony from witnesses, and explains why investigators think a crime may have been committed.
The controversial search that took place on August 8 sparked a ferocious political backlash, with allies of the former president and Republican politicians accusing the Justice Department of overreaching.
The former president referred to the search as a break-in, demanded the release of the unedited affidavit, and called for the judge overseeing the case to step aside in a message on his social media page on Tuesday.
Judge Reinhart did reportedly withdraw from a racketeering case Trump filed earlier this year against the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton, and others over their allegations that his campaign had collaborated with Russia without providing a justification.
Officials from the Justice Department have defended the Mar-a-Lago search as a necessary action that US Attorney General Merrick Garland only authorized after several weeks of consideration.
A list of items confiscated from the property by FBI agents, which was released earlier, revealed that they took boxes of various items, photo albums, a handwritten message, and Roger Stone's executive pardon. According to the three-page list, they also took information regarding the French president.
The list is included in a seven-page document that also has a judge-signed search warrant for the property.