The legal team for former president Donald Trump rejected a request from the Justice Department on Monday to start looking at the contents of the classified documents that the FBI took from his Florida residence last month as part of a criminal investigation.
In a filing, his attorneys also requested that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon include those roughly 100 records, which were amongst the more than 11,000 records uncovered during the August 8 search authorized by the court, in the review that an impartial arbiter known as a special master will conduct to examine all the materials.
The special master, appointed by the judge last week after Trump asked for it, might declare certain documents confidential and keep them hidden from investigators.
The Justice Department is looking into whether Trump kept government records at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach after he left office in January 2021, some of which were marked as highly confidential, including “top secret.” The department is also looking into any potential obstruction of the investigation.
On Monday, Trump’s attorneys also informed Cannon that they disagreed with the government’s proposal for two retired judges, Barbara Jones and Thomas Griffith, to act as special masters. The candidates put out by Trump’s team for the position are former deputy attorney general of Florida Paul Huck and federal judge Raymond Dearie. Later on, the department is expected to comment on Trump’s suggested nominees.
In a related event, the Justice Department has filed charges against a Texas woman who authorities claim threatened Cannon over the phone, stating things like “the judge is targeted for assassination.” The event is the most recent instance of threats against several federal agencies that have been publicized in recent months.
Prior to now, Cannon has prevented the department from using the data that were seized right away in the investigation. This has slowed down the work of the prosecution and made it more difficult for them to ascertain whether any more classified information might be missing.
The 45th President’s holding of his own presidential and personal documents is being unfairly sought to be criminalized, according to Trump’s lawyers, in what is fundamentally a document storage dispute that has gotten out of hand.
Therefore, they continued, the government should not be allowed to forego the process and jump right to a preordained conclusion.
Trump’s lawyers refuted the department’s assertion that the roughly 100 documents in question are in fact classified in Monday’s submission, and they reminded Cannon that a president typically has broad authority to declassify data. They refrained from claiming that Trump had declassified the records, which is something he has said on social media but not in court filings.
The Justice Department has requested that the judge permit investigators to quickly resume looking through the secret documents. Prosecutors have pledged to appeal to a higher court if the judge decides that the department cant continue relying on the confidential papers for its criminal investigation or insists on having the special master evaluate them.
In addition to previous federal and state investigations stemming from Trump’s tenure in office and in the private sector, he is currently under investigation for the papers probe as he mulls a 2024 reelection bid.
Following the search, Trump’s legal team requested the appointment of a special master to examine the records that had been seized for information that might be protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege, a legal theory that can prevent some presidential records from being made public.
Trump’s request was granted last week after Cannon rejected Justice Department arguments that the information belonged to the government. Trump could not assert executive privilege since he was no longer in office. In 2020, he was named Cannon to the bench.
Written By Dylan Santoyo
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
REUTERS: Trump lawyers oppose Justice Department request on classified documents
FOX NEWS: Trump lawyers oppose DOJ request to continue to use classified docs seized by FBI during investigation
CNN: Trump opposes DOJ’s Mar-a-Lago special master candidates but doesn’t say why
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore‘s Flickr page – Creative Commons License
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