The Mar-a-Lago Affidavit Circus

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the release of the Trump search-warrant affidavit.

The next act in the Mar-a-Lago search-warrant drama will play out in south Florida on Thursday afternoon. Magistrate Judge Bruce W. Reinhart has scheduled a hearing on the motion to make public the currently sealed, probable-cause affidavit filed by the Justice Department in support of last week’s search of former president Trump’s estate. The motion was made by several media organizations and private watchdog groups.

In an unusual move, the former president has expressed support for the movants seeking the unsealing of the warrant. Normally, a person as to whom the government contends there is probable cause of guilt of at least three federal felonies would not be enthusiastic about the publication of the FBI’s summary of its supporting evidence (much as he would, no doubt, like to see the summary for himself). Trump, however, clearly realizes that the court is not going to unseal the warrant at this premature stage. His pose thus helps him in the court of public opinion: He appears to be pushing for transparency while the Justice Department is pushing for concealment.

Despite the sky-is-falling rhetoric from the competing sides, Thursday’s hearing will not be of epic significance or the final word on the matter. The judge is surely going to decline for now to disclose the affidavit (or at least the parts of the affidavit people are interested in), but it will ultimately be disclosed.