Clip: Redacted affidavit FBI used for search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home is unsealed

Alcindor : It was a busy week and newsy, newsy Friday afternoon. Today, following a judge’s order, a redacted copy of an FBI affidavit used to justify the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was publicly released. The document contained read actions but also revealed that in January, Trump turned over to the national archives documents with different levels of classification. They included 92 documents marked as secret and 25 documents marked as top-secret.

The affidavit said, quote, there is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the premises. The Justice Department was also concerned that, quote, premature disclosure of affidavits may, quote, have a significant and negative impact on the continuing investigation and may severely jeopardize its effectiveness by allowing criminal parties an opportunity to flee or destroy evidence. This is all important information.

Joining me to discuss this and more is Scott MacFarlane, congressional correspondent for CBS News, Eva McKend, national politics reporter for CNN, and joining me here in studio, Michael Shear, White House correspondent for "The New York Times" and Ali Vitali, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent and the author of the new book "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a woman in the White House Yet."

So, thank you all for being here.

Scott, I got to start with you. We saw this redacted copy of the affidavit. Of course, everyone in Washington and around the country was looking at it. What sticks out most to you? What’s most important here?

Scott MacFarlane, Congressional Correspondent, CBS News : Every speck of this, every ounce of this is unprecedented, from soup to nuts. I mean, first of all, page 30 of this 38-page affidavit says something we have never seen before, that the FBI argued there was, quote, fruits of crime potentially at the residence of a former U.S. president. It didn’t preclude the possibility there are more items or more people the FBI would pursue.

And just the fact that we see an affidavit for a search warrant without a corresponding civil or criminal case is itself unique. Usually when we look at court cases, we look at the affidavit which has the plane story behind the case. There is no case here, so it is difficult, Yamiche, to get our bearings around this moment.

Alcindor : It also said in the affidavit there could be because to believe there might be obstruction found on the premises. I wonder what you make of the significance of that. You talk about it being unprecedented that we were looking for crimes, but specifically this evidence of obstruction, I am interested in your thoughts.

MacFarlane : Yeah. We keep hearing the word obstruction in the cases corresponding to January 6. We got a sense of how significant that is. That is a federal crime that has a lot of weight, and we learned about that ahead of the surge on Mar-a-Lago.

But here’s something else, in between the redactions, Yamiche, and there were many redactions, there was a granularity to what the federal agents were saying in the affidavit, that there were certain spaces on this sprawling Mar-a-Lago campus that were of interest. The 45 office, the 45th president’s office at Mar-a-Lago, the storage spaces. And what the affidavit says is that those spaces are not authorized to hold classified information. The affidavit was emphatic, there was secret classified information on the grounds, according to federal agents.

Alcindor : And, Michael, we’re talking about this secret classified information we said at the top, 25 documents marked top secret. I wonder what the significance of this is to you, because a lot of the affidavit you have, they say that they were handwritten notes from former President Trump.

So, we, of course, covered Trump together. We know how he operates. So, what does this tell you? What’s the significance?

Michael Shear, White House Correspondent, The New York Times : Well, I think there’s a couple of ways it is significant. One is it raises the question of why the former president did not just deal with this as soon the national archives and the federal officials started inquiring. I mean, it’s really hard to understand, had asked Scott said, there is so much redacted that I am not sure of affidavit -- if the affidavit answers questions, it maybe raises more questions.

But there’s -- if president Trump had seen these documents before, and be with they were, had handwriting on them, there was a reason he wanted them and a reason why he said I made a mistake, here are the documents back.

And, clearly, he did not because they found more after the affidavit was filed. They went in and found more information. I think ultimately, over the course of the next weeks, months, however long this goes, that is the question I am going to be looking for, why did he want these and why didn’t he give them back?

Alcindor : And, Ali, there are so many questions as Michael is alluding to hear, one is the sense that the FBI has not identified all potential criminal confederates or located all evidence related to this investigation. That means there could be more to this story. What do you make?

Ali Vitali, Capitol Hill Correspondent, NBC News : That is a lot of information that we are already looking at, the fact that there were hundreds of documents here that were secret, classified documents that were not being stored in the correct fashion. The fact that they are not sure they have gotten them all, that is stunning to think about as we move forward.

I think what’s also interesting is the fact that the DOJ clearly knew what they were dealing with. It is clear that they knew he was someone who could try, if they were not secretive about this, to punch back first and preempt what the DOJ was trying to do. I thought that was a striking passage not only because they knew what he was dealing with, but also because they’re clearly talking to multiple people inside Trump’s orbit, so much that they knew exactly where to look for these documents, and that is a threat we are going to tug on in the coming weeks and months, too.

Alcindor : And, Ali, in some ways wrote the intro to my next question, Trump punching back.

So, President Trump again lashed out at the FBI and DOJ. He made a graphic where he released a statement that said they missed a page showing all black lives, and it was hard for you to read, it says "Make America Great Again" through all those redactions.

But I also want to put up something else for people, an ABC News poll showing that Trump sold over the GOP has strengthened since the FBI search according to NBC News. Since May, the number of Republicans who identified with Trump more than the GOP has risen 7 percent.

So, Eva, you’ve been out there in the country. What do you make of all the politics of this?

Eva McKend, National Politics Reporter, CNN : Well, I’ve been in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Erie, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta in the last couple of weeks. And what has surprised me when I speak to Democratic voters as they very much are concerned about the former president and the future health of our democracy. I think sometimes here in Washington, we are concerned that we are having a conversation that does not mirror what was happening in the country.

Well, it is, they are concerned. I think what we are going to see is Democrats really seize on this and say, look, the former president has no regard for our sacred institutions. That is the argument they are going to make based on this search alone, even though the former president hasn’t been charged. I very much think this will continue to be a factor as we talk about November.

Alcindor : Eva is talking about this idea that the Democrats are sort of crafting their messaging. Michael, President Biden, though, he said they would let the DOJ determine whether national security was compromised. But today on the line, you could see President Biden in some ways, wanting to say something. Someone said to him, you know, what do you make of former President Trump, his handling of documents, and he just said, "Come on".

What’s the president’s thinking here?

Shear : Well, look, I mean, look, there’s such great irony in all of this, right? The former President Donald Trump is being assailed and potentially having electoral damage based on handling classified information after he spent so many months assailing Hillary Clinton for emails and mishandling documents. You know, there is some great irony here.

And I think Joe Biden would love nothing more than two sort of jump in with both feet. And look, he will -- the Hatch Act, which is the law that prevents, you know, political activities, does not apply to the president himself. I think you will see, over the course of the next couple of months before the midterm elections, you will see him again. He was already more aggressive at his speech yesterday, and I think you will get more pointed.

And I think in some ways, what Democrats are hoping is that the former president’s troubles in Mar-a-Lago, writ large, is going to be the thing that motivates, you know, people and the Democrats, and Joe Biden can seize them.

Alcindor : And, Scott, lets talk about troubles. We alluded to it in your answers. There are a lot of unanswered questions. What do you think are the most important of the unanswered questions? What is going on next?

MacFarlane : Well, ultimately, whether or not there is a civil or criminal case filed, there is no certainty that one will be. There is going to be an appetite with the public as to what are these things that are potentially in a storage space at a private resort in Florida? What was compromised?

And that’s why we hear the leaders at the House and Senate Intelligence Committee saying they would like a briefing on what might have been compromised, a confidential briefing in a secure location in the U.S. Capitol, where you are authorized to show and disclose classified information.

Senator Mark Warner who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, the senator from Virginia, issued a statement today reiterating his interest in getting briefed on this. If something has been compromised, the U.S. Congress needs to know, because they have oversight over U.S. intelligence and classification records.

Alcindor : Ali, jump in here, you are running the halls of Congress along with Scott. What do you make of what he is saying?

Vitali : Yeah, this is one of those weeks where I really wish they were here still, because I would love to ask these lawmakers in real time, many of them wanting to see what is in the affidavit. When I was in Alaska just two weeks ago at this point, I asked Senator Lisa Murkowski what she thought. She said she wants to see what is in here, I think in large part because the Republicans whose knee-jerk reaction was not to immediately defend Trump want to see what they are dealing with here.

And I think that the Senate reaction has, of course, been differed from the house reaction. I think McCarthy’s response immediately after the search at Mar-a-Lago sort of said it all from what we are going to hear from House Republicans on this, which is they are going to vehemently defend Trump right now, and if they retake the House, they are going to do all the investigations around this and try to muddy the waters as much as possible, despite the fact the DOJ clearly has been methodological and careful in taking these unprecedented steps to actually investigate and search the home of a former president.

Alcindor : Eva, going back to you, when you think about the politics of how this is playing out, you mentioned being in Georgia and Pennsylvania, I wonder when you hear Scott and Ali talking about sort of oversight of this, where this goes next. What’s in your mind?

McKend : Well, I just think we’ll have to see how this continues to play out. I think I wonder if some of the Republicans who initially reflexively were very supportive of the former president, very sympathetic, if they sort of maybe have regrets about that response. And I do wonder if we are going to see any Republicans shipped their strategy as it gets closer to November and sort of distance themselves from the former president.

Does this entire Mar-a-Lago episode become too politically toxic?