HOUSTON — When news broke of the redacted document being released Friday in the Trump Mar-a-Lago search, people started searching for the meaning of 'redacted.' In fact, Google says they saw a spike in searches for 'redacted meaning.'
What does ‘redacted’ mean?
‘Redacted’ means to obscure or remove text from a document prior to release, according to Merriam-Webster. The information is often removed because it is sensitive or confidential.
What is an example of redacted information?
According to federal rules, examples of redacted information could be social security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, names of minors, dates of birth, financial account numbers, home addresses, passport numbers, and driver’s license numbers.
FBI affidavit in search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate heavily redacted
A Florida judge has unsealed the FBI search warrant for Monday's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
FBI agents recovered 11 sets of "top secret" records from Mar-a-Lago, according to the property receipt obtained by several news outlets. Federal agents use property receipts to specify what is taken during a search.
The unsealed documents did not specify details or information about what classified records contained. In a statement Friday, Trump claimed that the documents seized by agents at his Florida club were “all declassified,” and argued that he would have turned over the documents to the Justice Department if asked.
Read the unsealed records here:
The decision to unseal the warrant comes after Attorney General Merrick Garland called for the release of the warrant after Trump confirmed the search to the public. On Friday, Trump's lawyers did not object to the proposal of making the documents public.
In messages posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “Not only will I not oppose the release of documents ... I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents.”
The Mar-a-Lago search warrant served Monday was part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records recovered from Trump's home in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this year.
The National Archives had asked the department to investigate after saying 15 boxes of records it retrieved from the estate included classified records. Multiple federal laws govern the handling of classified information.