Trump affidavit to be unsealed
A judge yesterday ordered the Justice Department to make public a redacted version of the affidavit it relied on when federal agents searched the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump to look for classified documents.
The documents were due to be released overnight NZ time, after Judge Bruce Reinhart set a deadline of noon Friday US time for a redacted, or blacked-out, version of the document.
The order means the public could learn additional details about what led FBI officials to search Mar-a-Lago on August 8 as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Documents already made public show the FBI retrieved from the property 11 sets of classified documents, including information marked at the top secret level.
Search warrant affidavits typically contain vital information about an investigation, with agents spelling out to a judge the justification for why they want to search a particular property and why they believe they’re likely to find evidence of a potential crime there. But affidavits routinely remain sealed during the course of pending investigations, making the judge’s decision to reveal portions of it in this investigation all the more striking.
The redactions proposed by the Justice Department are likely to be extensive given the sensitivity of the investigation, lessening the likelihood that the document will offer a comprehensive look at the basis for the unprecedented search or significant insights about the direction of the probe. Yet even a redacted affidavit can contain at least some fresh revelations about the investigation, which brings fresh legal peril just as Trump lays the groundwork for another presidential run in 2024.
The city of Chongqing, dubbed one of China’s four “furnace” cities, is known for both soaring temperatures and spicy cuisine — notably its hotpot, a peppery bubbling tabletop broth into which diners dunk bite-size pieces of food to cook and eat. The inland metropolis on the Yangtze River has the perfect escape to enjoy hotpot, even in what has been a summer of unusually stifling heat: World War II-era air raid shelters, converted into restaurants, where the temperature is naturally cooler. Chongqing was the temporary capital of China during World War II, as a Japanese invasion drove the government out of the then-capital, Nanjing.
At the sound of air raid sirens, residents crowded into the often dark shelters dug into the hilly cityscape to protect people and military weapons.
Today, the stone arch doorways of the former shelters still dot the city. Some have become cafes and mahjong parlours and others, restaurants.
Red Chinese characters hang over one entrance, its stonework half-hidden by a refrigerated drinks display case and stacked up plastic chairs. Inside, tables and chairs line two long and narrow tunnels connected by a corridor. A starry night sky has been painted on the semicircular roof. “We stay away from the summer heat in these air raid shelters,” said Tang Ronggang, as wisps of steam rose in front of his face from the hotpot on his table.
Meteorologists say this summer has brought China’s strongest heatwave since the government began recording rainfall and temperature 61 years ago.