Alina Habba, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, doesn't have overwhelming faith in the Department of Justice's upcoming redactions on the affidavit that launched the FBI raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who originally signed off on the search warrant, has given the DOJ and Attorney General Merrick Garland first crack at handling the redactions.
But Habba isn't expecting anything of consequence being released to the public — not now and maybe not ever.
"I think we'll get back something with maybe a page number on it at the bottom," Habba told Newsmax on Thursday night while appearing on "Rob Schmitt Tonight."
Reinhart has the option to overrule Garland on final redactions, said Habba. "So, let's see what that might look like" in terms of learning "the pretext" behind the search warrant.
Habba also said the DOJ's affidavit vaguely alleges Trump wrongdoing on three fronts: concealment, espionage, and destruction.
However, the charges "don't make sense to me, since [Trump] was cooperating the entire time," said Habba.
If the DOJ claims concealment, Habba reasoned, "you wouldn't have allowed [federal agents] into Mar-a-Lago."
If the DOJ cites espionage, Habba said the Trump attorneys wouldn't have been transparent about federal officials viewing the documents in June.
And if the DOJ argues destruction, then Trump's people wouldn't have responded positively to the feds' request of putting a padlock on the presidential documents, said Habba.
"What people don't understand, presidents have different kinds of privileges — executive privileges," said Habba, adding that Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama exercised similar declassification privileges with documents after leaving office in 2009 and 2017, respectively.
"But no one likes to talk about that," said Habba, laughing. "Instead, they're taking these antiquated laws and shoving them down the throats" of people consuming left-leaning media.
When asked if Trump officials were seriously considering the release of the Mar-a-Lago video chronicling the FBI search on Aug. 8, Habba responded, "I would love the country to see what I saw with the cameras."
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