George Washington University Professor and Democrat Jonathan Turley is blasting the Department of Justice for selectively leaking narrative bolstering portions of the affidavit used to justify the raid on President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. DOJ is pushing leaks to the media while also claiming the affidavit must be kept secret from the public.
"While the Justice Department has been demanding absolute secrecy, the media has been reporting all of these leaks from the government that are clearly meant to put the Trump team on the defense. These are things going to the past communications with the Trump team. What were they looking for? What caused the search? All of that is sort of leaking out regularly as they are in court telling the judge, my God, don't release one iota of this affidavit or our investigation will be compromised," Turley said during an interview with Fox News this week.
Turley is also criticizing Attorney General Merrick Garland, who personally approved the warrant for the raid, for a repeated lack of transparency.
...The feds have maintained that secrecy is essential to protect their investigation while reportedly leaking some of the very information the affidavit contains. It is an all-too-familiar pattern for some of us who have litigated national-security cases against the government...
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 25, 2022
...Attorney General Merrick Garland has had at least four opportunities to take modest steps to assure the public on the department’s motives and means in this controversy. This is his fifth opportunity and he should not let it pass. https://t.co/XAiASCY4y8
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 25, 2022
Meanwhile, DOJ and the FBI submitted a redacted version of the affidavit to a judge Thursday. Last week Judge Bruce Reinhart said DOJ's request to keep the entire document sealed was not plausible.
New sealed entries added to the Mar-a-Lago raid docket, presumably affidavit redaction requests from the FBI ?????? pic.twitter.com/PxkKiPEMoI
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) August 25, 2022