A Florida federal judge has ordered more information released from the search warrant affidavit that led the FBI to uncover a trove of classified documents at Donald Trump’s Florida resort.
In a decision Wednesday, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart denied a request from media outlets, including NBC News, that the entire affidavit be unsealed following the related criminal charges last month against the former president, but found “additional portions of the search warrant application should be unsealed.”
Reinhart said the Justice Department agreed in a sealed filing that certain additional portions of the search warrant could be made public, but requested that other portions remain sealed to “comply with grand jury confidentiality rules and to protect sources and methods of investigation”.
The judge said the DOJ “has met its burden of showing that the proposed redactions of the affidavit are narrowly tailored to serve the legitimate interests of the government and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the entirety of the case.” ‘search warrant affidavit’.
It’s unclear when the less redacted version will be filed, or how new the information will be to the public, as it will most likely be information contained in the 37-count federal indictment that was unsealed last month.
Trump is charged with violating seven different laws, including 31 counts of willfully withholding national defense information and single counts of false statements and representations, conspiracy to obstruct justice, to withhold a document or record, to conceal a document by corruption, to conceal a document in a federal investigation and a scheme to conceal.
He pleaded not guilty in the case and claimed he had declassified the documents and that they were his to do with as he pleased.
Reinhart is the judge who approved the Justice Department’s request for a search warrant on Trump’s property in August last year. He previously ordered that other parts of the search warrant be made public.
His Wednesday order showed the Justice Department was also seeking to keep its motion for a limited unsealing of certain documents in the case secret so they could be turned over to Trump’s attorneys.
The judge said he would allow the motion to remain sealed because it ‘identifies investigative steps that have not yet been made public’, but he would allow his decision on the government’s request to be released public because it “does not disclose the contents of any discovery material.”
Reinhart suspended that order until July 13 to give the government time to decide whether to appeal.
Peter Carr, spokesman for special counsel Jack Smith, declined to comment.
Trump’s co-defendant in the case, aide and former White House valet Walt Nauta, is expected to be arraigned on Thursday.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com