(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Claiming a fear of backlash from pro-MAGA mobs that largely exist in the minds of leftists trying to prevent another Trump presidential bid, the Biden regime’s Justice Department on Monday objected to publicly disclosing an affidavit of probable cause used to obtain a warrant for the raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
The announcement came less than a week after Attorney General Merrick Garland’s faux promise for transparency from the Department of Justice, in the face of growing concerns over what has been condemned as the political weaponization of the FBI.
Why won’t the DOJ make the search affidavit public?
What are they hiding?
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) August 15, 2022
The DOJ claims it wants “transparency” but will then keep the Affidavit for the Mar-a-lago raid sealed while leaking Blue Anon fan fiction to the media.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 15, 2022
Transparency was scarce to non-existent with the Justice Department’s continued stonewalling in response to multiple legal filings to unseal the raid’s probable cause affidavit.
“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,” argued a filing from the DOJ obtained by Politico.
In response to the announcement, Trump called for the immediate release of the affidavit, while delivering a blistering indictment of the DOJ:
“There is no way to justify the unannounced RAID of Mar-a-Lago, the home of the 45th President of the United States (who got more votes, by far, than any sitting President in the history of our Country!), by a very large number of gun toting FBI Agents, and the Department of ‘Justice’ but, in the interest of TRANSPARENCY, I call for the immediate release of the completely Unredacted Affidavit pertaining to this horrible and shocking BREAK-IN. Also, the Judge on this case should recuse!”
DOJ officials insisted that unsealing the affidavit would hamper efforts to interview witnesses, who would be terrified by the hordes of flag-waving, MAGA-fueled domestic terrorists the Biden junta has been spinning into existence.
“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,” the DOJ’s filing argued.
“This is not merely a hypothetical concern, given the widely reported threats made against law enforcement personnel in the wake of the August 8 search.”
The Biden DOJ doesn’t want its affidavit justifying the Mar-a-Lago raid be released to the public, but it does not hesitate to leak daily to its willing stenographers in the mainstream media. This way only its side of the story gets out. Some “transparency.” Some “rule of law.”
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) August 15, 2022
While continuing to hide behind the sealed affidavit, the Justice Department did concede to the public release of other documents pertaining to the raid.
Those documents, such as the cover sheets for the initial search-warrant application and the government’s motion to seal the warrant, won’t shine any light on what a growing chorus of concerns considers the DOJ’s corrupt intent, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said in an interview with Newsmax.
“Even if they don’t want to first disclose it to the public, there’s no reason why they can’t bring it into the SCIF,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to a so-called Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility where lawmakers could review the affidavit.
“If we can’t see it, who can?” Fitzpatrick said.
“This was an unprecedented action that needs to be backed up with unprecedented justification, and there’s only one place where we can see if that unprecedented justification exists.”
That, of course, would be the affidavit of probable cause that the DOJ want to keep secret.
“All the answers lie in that document,” Fitzpatrick said.
