Justice Dept. Objects to Releasing Affidavit Used to Search Trump’s Home - The New York Times

Trump’s handling of secret documents after he left office.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department objected on Monday to making public the affidavit used to justify the search of former President Donald J.

In a 13-page pleading, filed in a federal court in southern Florida in response to requests by The New York Times and other news organizations to make public the evidence included in the document, prosecutors suggested that the department has undertaken a broad, intensive inquiry into Mr.

Trump’s handling of some of the most secret documents of the government after he left office.

They also wrote that releasing the document could compromise the continuing investigation.

“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses,” prosecutors wrote.

They added that releasing the affidavit could harm “other high-profile investigations” as well.

One of the reasons proposed by the government for not releasing the affidavit was to protect the identities of witnesses against death threats.

On Monday, prosecutors in Pennsylvania unsealed charges against a man accused of repeatedly threatening to kill F.B.I.

The magistrate judge who signed the search warrant, Bruce E.

Garland agreed last week to release the warrant used to search Mr.

Trump’s private club, but has resisted attempts to make public the underlying affidavit, a far more sensitive document that should contain, among other things, the reasons prosecutors believe there was probable cause that evidence of a crime could be found at Mar-a-Lago, Mr.

Federal agents removed top secret documents when they searched Mr.