Judge Aileen Mercedes Cannon, who is overseeing proceeding over former President Donald Trump’s request for a special master, declared she would unseal an inventory of items the FBI seized from the Mar-a-Lago raid Thursday.
However, Cannon did not immediately rule on Trump’s petition for a special master Thursday after a two-hour hearing, the Wall Street Journal reported.
EYE OF THE STORM: THE TWO JUDGES AT THE CENTER OF THE TRUMP MAR-A-LAGO RAID DRAMA
Following arguments Thursday, Cannon said she would release a written order on a special master, which is a third party typically appointed by the court to determine whether certain sensitive materials are protected by legal privileges and should be withheld from prosecutors. The judge, a Trump appointee, previously announced her “preliminary intent to appoint a special master” to oversee the DOJ’s review of the documents seized during the Aug. 8 search and seizure.
Representatives for Trump filed a motion last week for the appointment of a special master and a court order to block the FBI from reviewing those documents until they undergo a review. Upon Cannon’s request, Trump’s legal team filed a supplemental motion in the matter. The motions were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
On Tuesday night, the Justice Department filed a lengthy rebuttal to Trump’s petition, arguing that the former president “has shown no basis for the Court to grant injunctive relief” and that a special master would “significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests.” The filing shed additional light on the documents authorities confiscated during the August raid, including a photo of documents with classified markings.
Documents seized ranged from “CONFIDENTIAL to TOP SECRET information, and certain documents included additional sensitive compartments that signify very limited distribution,” according to the DOJ.
The Justice Department said it already managed to identify a “limited set” of materials that may have privileged attorney-client information among the batch of documents obtained from Trump’s Palm Beach estate. The DOJ’s “Privilege Review Team” has been examining the batch.
Authorities are investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice, according to an unsealed warrant for the August raid. An underlying affidavit said the “government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records.” The affidavit also noted there was “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found.”
Trump decried the raid as an “unAmerican break-in.” In public, Trump claims he declassified the material stashed in Mar-a-Lago, however, his lawyers said in a filing on Wednesday they agree with the government that “it would be appropriate for the special master to possess a Top Secret/SCI security.”
“As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, in order to prepare for work the next day, often took documents including classified documents from the Oval Office to the residence,” a spokesperson from Trump said in a statement according to Just the News.
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Government officials had sought documents Trump had at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after leaving office on at least two occasions prior to the Aug. 8 raid, in which DOJ says more than 100 documents with classified markings were seized.
The first came in January, when the National Archives and Records Administration recovered 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago. Upon the discovery of classified markings in the trove of material seized, the agency referred the matter to the DOJ, which opened an investigation in response. Then, in June, officials collected more material, and Trump lawyer Christina Bobb signed a document attesting that all classified material had been surrendered to the government, the New York Times reported.
