Report: DOJ tells Court it fears Trump could destroy documents

The Department of Justice (DOJ), reportedly informed U.S. Magistrate Bruce Reinhart that they want the affidavit authorizing a search of ex-President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence sealed out of fear that he would destroy documents.

The report was written by Mark Meredith, Fox News’ legal scholar. Reinhart stated that he would release parts of Reinhart’s affidavit and gave the DOJ one-week to make redactions. Meredith, via legal scholar Jonathan Turley reported:

Fox’s Mark Meredith reported just that the warrant released material referred to the necessity for a seal to protect material …

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 18, 2022

Turley pointed out that the argument made by the DOJ, if it was presented as reported, seemed odd because it focused less on the protection of confidential informants (CI) than other aspects. Turley noted:

… I would expect the focus to be on ongoing investigations and CI protection. It is unclear whether there were any allegations or threats of destruction in the affidavit.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 18, 2022

…Notably, the search occurred after the media ran accounts (denied by Trump) that the former president routinely destroyed documents and flushed them down the toilet.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 18, 2022

Turley referred to a report at Axios.com on August 8 showing photos of torn documents in a toilet. Breitbart News reported that the warrant had been approved three days prior to Axios’ story on the documents being flushed.

The DOJ took many materials from Trump’s home, some with classified markings. Trump claims that he has declassified all Mar-a-Lago materials and that federal officials had received classified documents previously.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. PST). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.