WASHINGTON -
The FBI's revised memo that persuaded a federal judge to agree to a search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home did not reveal why he kept a huge cache of top-secret documents.
Judge Bruce Reinhart authorized the release of the Justice Department memo on Friday, after it had been redacted.
He noted that the Department of Justice and the FBI had the burden of shadowing portions of the affidavit for non-disclosure of "identities of witnesses, law enforcement personnel, and non-accused parties, investigative strategy, and direction, scope, sources, and methods of information gathering."
The judge added that the proposed revisions are "narrowly designed to serve the legitimate interests of government agencies and the integrity of the ongoing investigation."
FBI memo revealed Trump kept a large set of classified documents (Reuters)
Other documents
The display of the search warrant revealed that the former president had a much larger collection of classified documents than previously known.
The memo said that of the 15 boxes handed over to the National Archives, 184 were confidential documents, including 25 documents considered particularly sensitive.
These documents contained highly classified information, such as that obtained from "confidential human sources", information that is prohibited from being shared with other countries, and information obtained through monitoring of "foreign communications signals".
An inspection of President Trump's resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, earlier this August, and the document justifying this, shows that investigators believed that more classified documents were present at his residence even after the government recovered 184 classified documents.
The revised memo notes that "there is probable reason to believe that additional documents containing classified (national defense information) or presidential records subject to confidentiality requirements are currently still in the building."
The document notes that "there is probable reason to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the Trump House."
The court record released a few days ago shows that the Justice Department told former President Trump's lawyer several times that his Mar-a-Lago home was "not authorized or prepared to store classified information."
According to the memo, the department's attorneys last June repeated this point to Trump's attorney, in addition to requesting that any records be secured in the building, and attached to the memo was the text of a letter the Department of Justice sent to Trump's attorney on June 8 in this regard.
Why is Trump holding on to classified material?
It remains unclear why Trump has kept dozens or hundreds of classified and top-secret documents more than a year after leaving office, but the memo noted the chaotic nature of the former president's record keeping.
The memo indicated that documents found during a preliminary search last January, including top-secret and classified documents, were found mixed with other materials in boxes.
Several press reports, including testimonies from officials and former aides to President Trump, pointed to the randomness of organizing documents in the last days of his rule.
Trump has been known to ignore or shred documents throughout his time in the White House despite strict rules about their preservation.
The revised FBI memo did not say why former President Trump wanted to keep top-secret official government documents.
Trump claims that in his previous capacity as president and commander in chief of the armed forces, he could unilaterally declassify the documents upon leaving office, which allowed him to take them with him to his home in Florida.
Many legal experts disagree with Trump's claim, but some legal scholars argue that his theory is accepted in principle.
Supporters of President Trump demand "transparency";
By publishing the documents presented for investigation, and whether they justify the actions of the Department of Justice and the FBI in seeking to obtain them by storming the house of the former president, who may be a candidate for the presidency after two years against the current President Joe Biden.
This team believes that "without presenting the full facts to the American people, we will remain stuck in front of speculations that benefit no one and harm the confidence of citizens in law enforcement and the judiciary."