Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law professor emeritus, predicted that Department of Justice lawyers will “cherry-pick” what they want to be redacted when disclosing an affidavit that sought a search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s Florida home earlier this month.
Those redactions, Dershowitz said in a recent interview, will be unfavorable for Trump. Because they are unfavorable, the judge in the case will allow the redacted affidavit to be released, he added.
“They will not redact anything unfavorable to Trump,” Dershowitz told Newsmax on Saturday. “They will redact things that are favorable to Trump. They’ll claim national security.”
The former criminal defense attorney then predicted that Trump’s lawyers will not be allowed to be present when determining what should be redacted. The reason why is because the former president’s attorneys “would find out the names of informers,” Dershowitz explained.
Trump’s team, meanwhile, is not involved in requests to release the Justice Department’s affidavit. Several news outlets and third-party groups filed motions to release the document.
Reinhart’s Orders
During a hearing last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the Justice Department to submit the affidavit with proposed redactions. Then, he will consider releasing the legal document to the public.
“I am inclined to say I am not going to seal the entire affidavit,” Reinhart said during the Aug. 18 hearing. “I find that on the present record the Government has not met its burden of showing that the entire affidavit should remain sealed,” the judge added.
The former president and fellow Republicans have called for the affidavit to be released in full, suggesting that it would reveal the Department of Justice’s bias against Trump.
