Even if the affidavit used for the FBI's search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home is released, it will be "strictly redacted," Rep. Chris Stewart said on Newsmax on Friday.
"We've seen this again and again, beginning with the Russian investigation and since, and I predict that they're going to redact things that they clearly shouldn't, it's not going to be transparent," the Utah Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report." "They're going to hide behind this, this idea that would interfere with this investigation, and this is just such an extraordinary step."
The search of Trump's home is unprecedented in the nation's history, and with that being the case, "you can't treat it like any other criminal investigation," said Stewart. "The American people deserve to know."
However, he warned that the FBI and the Justice Department will continue to hide behind the affidavit for "perhaps years" while leaking out only the items on which they want the media to report.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who signed the search warrant for Trump's estate, on Thursday gave the DOJ a week to turn in a copy of the affidavit with its proposed redactions. He also unsealed some documents that the DOJ said would be acceptable to release, including a warrant cover sheet detailing alleged crimes and a pre-search motion to seal everything, citing investigation integrity and evidence preservation.
"My hope is the judge will look at the redactions to say, 'No, these are too severe,'" said Stewart. "Honestly, I'm not very optimistic about that. We've seen it again and again."
Meanwhile, most of the Democrats' leadership in Congress are "very comfortable" with what is happening, said Stewart.
"I have to look at them and say, 'What in the world are you thinking? Do you not realize how dangerous this is?'" he said.
Stewart noted that he has been all over the world as a U.S. Air Force pilot, and knows that hundreds of millions of people look to the United States as an example. One of the reasons for that is they know they would be treated fairly.
"The law protects everyone in America, and that's under doubt now," he said. "They look at it and say, 'Well, maybe that's no longer true.'"
Stewart also on Friday discussed his vote against the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act and said that the more that is known about the measure "the more atrocious we find out how atrocious this bill is," considering its push for additional IRS agents and the money for social justice organizations and climate change.
"As we learn more about this deal, the more Americans are going to resent it, and I think the more the Democrats are going to have trouble justifying their vote for this," Stewart said. "Even Sen. Bernie Sanders referred to it as the 'so-called' Inflation Reduction Act because the CBO (Congressional Budget Office), a nonpartisan group, said it's not going to do much to lower inflation at a time when we're seeing 40-year highs."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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