A federal judge in Florida has scheduled a hearing Thursday on whether to unseal the affidavit that federal investigators used to justify a search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home — a major point of contention between the government and the former president, his supporters and the news media.
The Department of Justice is arguing against unsealing the document for fear it could compromise an “ongoing criminal investigation” involving national security, while Trump and his Republican allies are calling the unprecedented search a major instance of government overreach and demanding the justification be made public. Several media companies, meanwhile, have urged the document be disclosed because of the public’s “clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred in these circumstances.”