Tonight, we are one step closer seeing a redacted version of the affidavit that the government used to support a search warrant of former President T’s Florida home Mar-a-Lago. That release could come any moment. A federal ordered the unsealing hours after the Justice Department submitted the document with redactions. There are parts of the affidavit that federal investigators want to keep secret, citing concerns that it will impact the early stage of this probe. The redactions are expected to be extensive. Media organization including CBSN urge the release of document, something that would be extremely rare but would shed light on why the FBI searched a former president’s home.

The decision by a Florida federal judge to release a redacted version of this affidavit is a major development in this case. And it could provide new details about why the home of the former president was searched. Late this afternoon, a federal judge B.R who initially approved the warrant that led to the search of Mar-a-Lago, issued an order that portions of the affidavit justifying the search should be made public by noon tomorrow. R wrote that he approved to the Justice Department’s suggested redactions to portions of the affidavit to protect the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, investigation strategy, direction, scope, sources and methods and grand jury information. Justice Department officials had opposed releasing the full affidavit and could still appeal the decision saying last week they are very concerned about the safety of the witnesses involved in their investigation of T’s handling of classified information, some of which went up to the level of the top secret. Judge R made the ruling just hours after the Justice Department submitted the redacted affidavit at his request. Former President T, who has previously called for it to be released, conferred with his attorneys in Bedminster, New Jersey, today. This comes as the new reporting of the Washington Post shows that National Archives officials were urging T’s lawyers as far back as May of 2021, fifteen months before Mar-a-Lago search to return boxes of the documents they said that were missing, including letters from North Korea Leader K.JU and former President O and that former White House Counsel P.C knew T had stored documents in his residence and agreed they needed to be returned. And all this comes as new investigations of T in Georgia ramps up. Prosecutors say today, they want to hear more from members of T’s inner circle, including former White House chief of staff M.M.