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U.S. NEWS Friday 26 august 2022
Judge orders unsealing of redacted affidavit in Trump search

By ERIC TUCKER disclosure of the affidavit,
Associated Press citing the extraordinary
WASHINGTON (AP) — A public interest in the fed-
judge ordered the Justice eral search of a former
Department on Thursday president’s home. Trump
to make public a redacted and some of his supporters
version of the affidavit it re- have also encouraged the
lied on when federal agents document’s release.
searched the Florida estate After the Justice Depart-
of former President Donald ment submitted its filing un-
Trump to look for classified der seal on Thursday, the
documents. media coalition responded
The directive from U.S. by asking the judge to un-
Magistrate Judge Bruce seal portions of the depart-
Reinhart came hours after ment’s brief and to direct
federal law enforcement the government, “going
officials submitted under forward,” to file publicly a
seal the portions of the af- redacted version of any
fidavit that they want to sealed document it sub-
keep secret as their inves- An aerial view of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate Aug. 10, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. mits. The groups noted
tigation moves forward. Associated Press that significant information
The judge set a deadline of about the investigation is
noon Friday for a redacted, formation about an inves- had made compelling ar- The department had ear- already public.
or blacked-out, version of tigation, with agents spell- guments to leave sealed lier contested arguments “At a minimum, any por-
the document. ing out why they want to broad swaths of the docu- by media organizations to tions of the Brief that recite
The order means the pub- search a particular prop- ment that, if disclosed, make any portion of the those facts about the in-
lic could soon get at least erty and why they believe would reveal grand jury in- affidavit public, saying the vestigation, without reveal-
some additional details they are likely to find evi- formation; the identities of disclosure could contain ing additional ones not yet
about what led FBI officials dence of a potential crime witnesses and “uncharged private information about publicly available — in ad-
to search Mar-a-Lago on there. parties”; and details about witnesses and about inves- dition to any other portions
Aug. 8 as part of an investi- In this case, though, the re- the investigation’s “strate- tigative tactics. But Rein- that pose no threat to the
gation into classified docu- dactions proposed by the gy, direction, scope, sourc- hart, acknowledging the investigation — should be
ments being retained at Justice Department are es and methods.” extraordinary public inter- unsealed,” the news orga-
the Palm Beach property. likely to be extensive given But he also said he was est in the investigation, said nizations wrote.
Documents already made the sensitivity of the investi- satisfied “that the Govern- last week that he was dis- They added, “If and when
public as part of the inves- gation and unprecedent- ment has met its burden of inclined to keep the entire additional facts come to
tigation show that the FBI ed nature of the search, showing that its proposed document sealed and told light and are confirmed
retrieved from the property lessening the chance that redactions are narrowly tai- federal officials to submit to to be accurate, or certain
11 sets of classified docu- the public will receive a de- lored to serve the Govern- him in private the redac- facts no longer pose a
ments, including informa- tailed glimpse of the basis ment’s legitimate interest in tions it wanted to make. threat to the investigation
tion marked at the top se- for the search or the direc- the integrity of the ongoing Multiple news media or- for any other reason, there
cret level. tion of the probe. investigation and are the ganizations, including The is no justification for main-
Search warrant affidavits In his order Thursday, Rein- least onerous alternative to Associated Press, argued taining them under seal
typically contain vital in- hart said the department sealing the entire Affidavit.” in court last week for the either.”q

24 states get $560M for high-priority

cleanup of wells

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY and gas wells around the from such areas to learn
Associated Press nation. how to plug orphaned
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The The infrastructure law “is wells and to get work doing
Interior Department is giv- enabling us to confront so, a separate release said.
ing 24 states a total of $560 long-standing environmen- Most of the states are get-
million to start cleaning tal injustices by making a ting $25 million each to
high-priority derelict oil and historic investment to plug clean wells and measure
gas wells abandoned on orphaned wells through- methane, with 15 using
state and private land, the out the country,” Secre- some of the money to en-
department said Thursday. tary Deb Haaland said in a able measurement of the
It said up to 10,000 wells news release. potent greenhouse gas.
could be dealt with as the A dozen states including Arkansas, which has 227 An oil well worker helps to re-plug an abandoned well on the
ranch of Ashley Williams Watt, Friday, July 9, 2021, near Crane,
government begins allo- Arkansas, Kansas, New wells on its priority list, and Texas.
cating $4.7 billion set aside Mexico and Ohio, have pri- Mississippi, which plans to Associated Press
to create an orphan well oritized wells in disadvan- use part of its grant to in-
cleanup program under taged communities, the ventory orphaned wells, where from a dozen to and previous activity at
the bipartisan infrastruc- department said. are getting $5 million each. more than 2,000 wells to the well site as well as other
ture plan approved late Louisiana said it would In April, the department plug with these initial grants, state considerations, such
last year. The Environmen- plug 250 to 900 wells near announced $33 million to the department said. as the number of existing
tal Protection Agency esti- low-income communities, cap and clean up 277 wells “The number of wells varies staff and whether the state
mates there are more than providing a chance for un- on federal land. based on the remoteness, has preexisting well plug-
3 million abandoned oil employed energy workers States have identified any- well depth, site conditions ging contracts,” it said. q