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A federal judge on Monday granted former President Donald J. Trump’s request that a special master review items from the FBI raid on his Mar-A-Lago residence. The judge also halted the Department of Justice’s use of the items for “investigative purposes.”
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, ruled that a special master will be appointed to review the seized items and will determine if any are personal items or items subject to claims of attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.
Cannon also ruled that the DOJ must suspend its use of Trump’s items for “investigative purposes” while the special master conducts its review. She also noted that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence could continue its “classified review and/or intelligence assessment.”
She wrote that the court was “mindful of the need to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances presented” in granting Trump’s request.
She also added that there may be a risk of the DOJ leaking materials that would cause harm to the former president.
“In addition to being deprived of potentially significant personal documents, which alone creates a real harm, Plaintiff faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public,” Cannon wrote.
This decision came after the DOJ objected to Trump’s request for a special master.
The DOJ last week surged that it was “unnecessary and would significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests.”
“Some of those records included the most highly classified records in the U.S. There was no place at that property [Mar-a-Lago] that was authorized for those records,” DOJ prosecutor Julie Edelstein said Thursday.
Trump’s lawyers filed a motion for the special master about two weeks after the Mar-A-Lago raid, saying that the raid was political in nature rather than fair.
“Law enforcement is a shield that protects Americans. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes,” Trump’s motion said. “Therefore, we seek judicial assistance in the aftermath of an unprecedented and unnecessary raid on President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.”
According to a property receipt released very shortly after the raid, items seized included, “miscellaneous top secret documents,” a “leatherbound box of documents,” and “various classified/TS/SCI documents.”
Cannon also gave both sides until September 9 to propose candidates for the position of the special master.
“What is the harm of appointing a special master?” she said. “What is your articulation of harm other than the general concern that it would delay a criminal investigation?”
Critics claim that Trump’s request for a special master would be “too late” since the DOJ has already had the material for weeks. Cannon disagreed though and noted that questions about executive privilege or the Presidential Records Ac would have to be filed and litigated in Washington D.C.
