Read the Justice Department’s Full Motion to Unseal the Warrant to Search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Home

Case 9:22-mj-08332-BER Document 18 Entered on FLSD Docket 08/11/2022 Page 3 of 5

be an opportunity to respond to the information, whether the information concerns public

officials or public concerns, and the availability of a less onerous alternative to sealing the

documents.” Romero, 480 F.3d at 1246.2 Given the intense public interest presented by a

search of a residence of a former President, the government believes these factors favor

unsealing the search warrant, its accompanying Attachments A and B, and the Property

Receipt, absent objection from the former President.

Attachments A and B under seal, releasing those documents at this time would not “impair

court functions,” including the government’s ability to execute the warrant, given that the

warrant has already been executed. See Romero, 480 F.3d at 1246. Furthermore, on the day

that the search was executed, former President Trump issued a public statement that provided

the first public confirmation that the search had occurred. Subsequently, the former

President’s representatives have given additional statements to the press concerning the

search, including public characterizations of the materials sought. See, e.g., F.B.I Search of

Trump’s Home Pushes Long Conflict Into Public View, N.Y. Times (Aug. 9, 2022), available at

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/us/politics/fbi-search-trump.html (“Christina Bobb, a

lawyer and aide to Mr. Trump who said she received a copy of the search warrant, told one

interviewer that the agents were looking for ‘presidential records or any possibly classified

material.’”). As such, the occurrence of the search and indications of the subject matter

involved are already public.

2 In addition, the First Amendment provides a basis for the press and the public’s “right of access to criminal trial proceedings.” Chicago Tribune Co., 263 F.3d at 1310. However, this Circuit has not addressed whether the First Amendment right of access applies to sealed search warrant materials. See, e.g., Bennett v. United States, No. 12-61499-CIV, 2013 WL 3821625, at *3 (S.D. Fla. July 23, 2023) (“this Court has found no Eleventh Circuit decisions addressing whether a First Amendment right of access extends to sealed search-warrant affidavits, particularly at the preindictment stage”).

Although the government initially asked, and this Court agreed, to file the warrant and

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