Special master to analyse Trump records appointed by federal judge
On Monday, a federal court ordered the Justice Department to cease its own assessment of the information for investigation purposes and instead allow an independent special master to analyse the data collected by the FBI during its raid of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.
Florida federal judge for the state's southern district In her ruling, Judge Aileen M. Cannon stated that the special master's duties would include "reviewing the confiscated property, managing assertions of privilege and making recommendations thereon, and evaluating applications for return of property."
The ruling says, "The Court hereby authorises the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and possibly privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege."
According to a report by Fox News from last month, FBI agents raided a building and took boxes holding data protected by attorney-client privilege and maybe executive privilege.
The attorney-client privilege protects the communications between a client and their attorney. The records may contain conversations between the former president and his private attorneys, White House counsel during the Trump administration, or both.
Additionally, the Court "temporarily enjoins the Government from analysing and using the seized information for investigative purposes pending completion of the special master's review or additional Court order," which "must not delay the classification review and/or intelligence report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."
After the unusual search of Tump's property, Tump's legal team asked Cannon to appoint a special master last month, arguing that the DOJ's "Privilege Review Team" should not be the final arbiter of whether its actions were legitimate in such a high-profile case and that the review team's scope was too small.
"Let's all pause for a moment and relax. The 45th president currently possesses official presidential documents at a location where he spent a lot of time working "Thursday's hearing testimony from Trump attorney Christopher Kise included the following statement.
However, federal prosecutors contended that appointing a special master would delay their investigation, that Trump lacked standing for his request, and that he had no right to access the confidential information during last week's hearing.
According to DOJ attorney Jay Batt, "he was unlawfully in possession of them" after Trump ceased to be president and the FBI seized documents from his home.
The FBI took dozens of highly classified documents from Trump's home, as well as empty folders marked as sensitive.
According to the judge's "preliminary intent to appoint a special master," the FBI's records related to Trump would be reviewed.
"The United States' top secret files were among those records. There was nowhere on the Mar-a-Lago property where such files could legally be kept "Deputy Attorney General Julie Edelstein made the statement on Thursday.
After a hearing on Thursday concerning Trump's motion, Cannon ruled that she would not make a judgement from the bench. The judge promised to issue her decision "in due course."
Nonetheless, Cannon gave some indication that she was leaning toward designating a new master.
Cannon "preliminarily intent" to grant Trump's request was disclosed in an order last week. And throughout the hearing on Thursday, she seemed to be doubtful of several of the government's claims.
She argued that there was no downside to having a "special master" appointed. Other than the vague worry that it would cause a delay in a criminal inquiry, what specific harm have you articulated?
The original search of Trump's residence was prompted by what the government sees as a potential breach of federal laws: A violation of 18 U.S.C. 793 would be considered the collection, transmission, or loss of defence information; 18 U.S.C. 2071 would be considered the hiding, removal, or mutilation of evidence; and 18 U.S.C. 1519 would be considered the destruction, alteration, or falsification
Merrick Garland, the attorney general, has claimed that he personally gave the go-ahead to search Trump's residence.