The Latest: Trump Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant Affidavit Released

• The redacted affidavit that authorized the FBI's search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on August 8th has been released. We will have more on its contents shortly.
• Read the search affidavit here.
• The FBI agent who filed the affidavit - whose name is redacted - outlined four main goals of the criminal investigation:

1. To “determine how the documents with classification markings and records were removed from the White House (or any other authorized location(s) for the storage of classified materials) and came to be stored at [Mar-a-Lago].”
2. To “determine whether the storage location(s) at [Mar-a-Lago] were authorized locations for the storage of classified information.”
3. To “determine whether any additional classified documents or records may have been stored in an unauthorized location at [Mar-a-Lago] or another unknown location, and whether they remain at any such location.”
4. To “identify any person(s) who may have removed or retained classified information without authorization and/or in an unauthorized space.”

• The unnamed agent also wrote:

“The FBI’s investigation has established that documents bearing classification markings, which appear to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were among the materials contained in the FIFTEEN BOXES and were stored at the PREMISES in an unauthorized location.

“Further, there is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at the PREMISES. There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the PREMISES.”

• Federal investigators wrote there were

“184 unique documents bearing classification markings, including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET, and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET.” 

• The DOJ's legal brief explaining the proposed redactions can be read here. (This is not the affidavit but the memo explaining the redactions.)
• The DOJ argued that without the proposed redactions "the affidavit could be used to identify many, if not all, of these witnesses."
• The redacted affidavit outlines why investigators believed there was probable cause that crimes had been committed and the materials FBI agents expected to find at Trump's Florida estate.
• The search warrant and property receipt - released on August 12 - revealed Trump is being investigated for breaking three federal laws: removal or destruction of records, obstructing an investigation, and violating the Espionage Act.

• Trump declared himself "as innocent as a person can be" on his networking platform Truth Social on Thursday:

“Even though I am as innocent as a person can be, and despite MY campaign being spied on by the Radical Left, the FISA COURT being lied to and defrauded, all of the many Hoaxes and Scams that were illegally placed on my by very sick & demented people, and without even mentioning the many crimes of Joe and Hunter Biden, all revealed in great detail in the Laptop From Hell, it looks more and more like the Fake News Media is pushing hard for the Sleaze to do something that should not be done."

• President Joe Biden said Friday morning that he will let the DOJ decide whether national security could have been compromised at Mar-a-Lago:

"We'll let the Justice Department determine that. We'll see what happens." 

This is a breaking story and will be updated.