A more complete version of the federal search warrant affidavit for Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was unsealed Wednesday, providing several new, unredacted details in an ongoing legal saga that the former president continues to claim is a witch hunt against him despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
The insight comes after a federal judge in Florida ruled Wednesday that more information be made public from the affidavit, which chronicles the FBI’s search for top secret documents stashed in multiple rooms at Mar-a-Lago. It reveals the Department of Justice had several clues, including visual evidence, to mount their argument for an additional search of Trump’s Florida residence—even as he continued to state he had declassified all documents or returned them in their entirety.
“There is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI (National Defense Information) or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at the PREMISES,” the affidavit, which was submitted last year and first unsealed in August, states. “There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the PREMISES.”
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While Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart denied a request for the entire document to be made public, he ruled that “additional portions of the search warrant application should be unsealed.”
Those include a new picture of 61 boxes in the Mar-a-Lago's storage room, as well as a recounting of CCTV video that shows the boxes being moved. In fact, the document reveals that federal authorities were in possession of the CCTV video before they raided the property.
In one newly unredacted section, FBI investigators write that “it was always FPOTUS’s practice to store accumulated documents in boxes, and that continues to be his practice.”
The affidavit also reveals that between Jan. 21, 2021, and late Aug. 2021, the initial set of boxes were stored in at least two different rooms at Mar-a-Lago—including a storage room and Trump’s residential suite.
It describes how on June 3, 2022, three FBI agents along with the Department of Justice arrived at Mar-a-Lago and were met by Trump’s legal counsel along with a “custodian of records for FPOTUS’s post-presidential office.” Trump’s counsel advised the DOJ that all the records had been kept in a storage room and that he had been advised there were no other records stored in another location. When entering the storage room, investigators discovered evidence that some boxes may have been moved.
During that June 3 visit, Trump's counsel turned over a Redweld envelope of 38 classified documents and told investigators that all of the documents in the subpoena were being handed over and that a “diligent search” of the home had been done.
However investigators found evidence to the contrary.
A previously unseen photograph of boxes piled in a storage room at Mar-a-Lago shows a massive trove of 61 boxes stacked together in a storage room at the Florida resort. “The purpose of the photograph was to show FPOTUS the volume of boxes that remained in the STORAGE ROOM,” the document says.
The revised affidavit, which was first reported by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney, also described how the door to the storage room was “painted gold” and is reachable by several wooden stairs.
In addition, investigators found other boxes intermingled with the ones containing classified documents, including several which held “merchandise such as challenge coins, garment bags, memorabilia from Mar-a-Lago such as photograph frames, and other décor items.
The newly unredacted content details how the Department of Justice obtained surveillance camera footage of the boxes in the storage room being moved over a number of days before and after the FBI and Department of Justice visits. Then, on June 29, a padlock is installed on the storage room door.
The FBI noted it discovered the existence of the footage after being handed the contents of a hard drive produced by Trump Organization representatives. The CCTV included four cameras in the basement hallway between April 23, 2022, and June 24, 2022.
“The recording feature of the cameras appears to be motion activated, so that footage is only captured when motion is detected within each camera’s field of view,” the document states.
While much of the movement of boxes was already known, its inclusion reveals why investigators were concerned documents were intentionally being withheld and adds to their argument that Mar-a-Lago needed be searched. While Trump’s valet Walt Natau, who was also indicted, is not named—the affidavit simply identifies the person who moved boxes as “Witness 5”—the dates match those with those cited in his indictment.
In all, “Witness 5” was captured moving 64 boxes from the storage room area between May 24, 2022, and June 1, 2022. Of the 64, he only returned between 25 and 30 boxes on June 2, 2022.
“It cannot be seen on the video footage where the boxes were moved when they were taken from the storage room area, and accordingly, the current location of the boxes that were removed from the storage room area but not returned to it is unknown,” the affidavit states.
The judgement came after numerous media organizations, including the Associated Press, urged the court to reveal the document in its entirety, following the former president’s 38-count indictment last month.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 federal felony counts including 31 violations of the Espionage Act connected to the case. Nauta’s arraignment is scheduled for Thursday in Miami after two delays.
