Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who is thought to have signed the still-sealed FBI warrant approving the bureau's Trump raid, announced the DOJ has to now "file a Response to the Motion to Unseal" following efforts by Albany-based news outlet the Times Union and the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch requesting the DOJ make the warrant public.
Reinhart announced the DOJ's response may be filed "ex parte and under seal as necessary to avoid disclosing matters already under seal," meaning that the complete response may be secret yet that "the Government shall file a redacted Response in the public record" too.
WATCH: THE AG'S RAN ON "GETTING" TRUMP
The Times Union lawyer wrote that FBI agents "applied for and received a search warrant in connection with an investigation that involved the residence of Donald J. Trump in Palm Beach" and that "I am filing this request asking the unsealing request of these court records."
WATCH: THE TIMING OF TRUMP'S TRIAL, WHY NOW?
Judicial Watch wrote that it is "investigating the potential politicization" of the FBI and the DOJ and whether they are "abusing their law enforcement powers to harass a likely future political opponent of President Biden" and that "if the Court were to unseal the materials, Judicial Watch would obtain the materials, analyze them, and make them available to the public."
SECURITY IN OVERDRIVE: HOME DEPOT'S UNCONVENTIONAL RESPONSE TO NEW YORK'S CRIME CRISIS
Reinhart announced that the "Government may file a consolidated Response to all Motions to Seal" and that the DOJ will have until Monday to respond.
The magistrate judge's name came under considerable scrutiny Tuesday after multiple news outlets reported that he was the one who signed off on the FBI's raid of Mar-a-Lago. In particular, his connection to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was highlighted.
WHO'S UP NEXT? BALTIMORE MAYOR NEXT TO PLAY IDENTITY POLITICS...
Reinhart left his job as an assistant U.S. attorney on Jan. 1, 2008. The next day, he started representing some of Epstein's employees. He was blamed in a lawsuit filed by two of Epstein's victims for leaving the DOJ to provide Epstein inside information, accusations Reinhart denied, the Miami Herald reported in 2018.
HOUSTON'S SAFETY NIGHTMARE: CRIMINALS ON A RAMPAGE AS POLICE STRUGGLE TO KEEP UP, IS YOUR CITY NEXT?
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida removed Reinhart's page from its website on Tuesday afternoon after his connection to Epstein went viral on social media.
"Access denied," Reinhart's page now states. "You are not authorized to access this page."
Reinhart was appointed by district judges to his current position as a magistrate judge in 2018.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
