Former US President Donald Trump walks to a vehicle in New York City on August 10, 2022. - Donald Trump on Wednesday declined to answer questions under oath in New York over alleged fraud at his family business, as legal pressures pile up for the former president whose house was raided by the FBI just two days ago. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)

After the raid on ex-US President Donald Trump’s home, the Justice Department is resisting calls for the release of the document the authorities used to obtain the search warrant. The ministry said Monday the document must remain classified to protect “an ongoing investigation,” which also involves national security.

The affidavit of the investigating authorities contains “extremely important and detailed investigative facts” as well as “highly sensitive information about witnesses”. If a court orders the document to be made public, so many passages would have to be redacted that the text would no longer have any meaningful content, the Justice Department said.

FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last Monday. The search warrant and a list of documents seized at Mar-a-Lago were subsequently released. Accordingly, the documents also included those that were classified as “top secret”. It is therefore determined because of possible violations of an anti-espionage law.

Several US media and politicians from Trump’s Republican Party are now also demanding publication of the document with which the search warrant was requested. This affidavit from the investigators to the address of the responsible judge should contain a lot of information about the investigation.

The investigation is about documents that Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after the end of his term in January 2021. US Presidents are required to hand over all official documents, including e-mails and letters, to the National Archives upon leaving office.

Trump has described the search of his property as politically motivated. He accuses President Joe Biden’s Democrats of using the judiciary to prevent him from running for president again in 2024.