Though Mar-a-Lago warrant released, Palm Beach Post asking court for entire documents

Even though the search warrant and inventory of items taken from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach were released Friday, the legal battle isn’t over.

The Palm Beach Post and more than a dozen other news organizations will continue to fight to convince U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart to release a probable cause affidavit that will offer more details about why Monday’s unprecedented search was initiated.

“The most interesting document – the affidavit containing the evidence that supports the court’s decision to issue the warrant remains sealed – at least for now,” said attorney Martin Reeder, who is representing The Post.

"As the local newspaper of record that has chronicled Donald Trump's activities in Palm Beach County for decades, we felt an obligation to our readers to join the fight for transparency when it comes to the documents involved in the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago earlier this week," said Rick Christie, executive editor of the Post.

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The warrant and inventory list that were released after Attorney General Merrick Garland requested it and Trump didn’t object, offer only a barebone description. The documents did, however, include the stunning revelation that agents were looking into possible violations of the Espionage Act and other laws. One of the potential crimes listed carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Unlike the released documents, the affidavit would explain why FBI agents were convinced classified and highly sensitive documents were at Trump’s oceanfront mansion, which is also a private club.

It would say whether insiders, likely to be identified as confidential informants, tipped them off. The affidavit might also detail what specific documents they expected to find.

On the inventory list, agents said they removed four separate groups of documents that they identified as “top secret.” Another three groups were identified as “secret” and three others were listed as “confidential.”

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But there is no detail about what they contained. They were simply listed as “miscellaneous.”

No description was given for most of the boxes, binders of photos and other documents that were removed from Mar-a-Lago.

The only documents that were identified with any specificity were one marked “Info re: President of France” and another described as “Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Stone.”

Before leaving office, Trump pardoned Stone, a long-time friend and political advisor. He was handed a 40-month prison sentence after being found guilty of seven felonies, including witness tampering and obstructing an official proceeding, in connection with the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

At least a dozen news organizations, including The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN and other major television networks, filed petitions, asking that the entire search warrant package be released. Reinhart hasn’t set any date to hear the requests.

Jane Musgrave covers federal, civil and criminal courts for The Palm Beach Post. Contact her at jmusgrave@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mar-a-Lago search: Palm Beach Post seeking probable cause affidavit