A federal judge in Florida announced the court’s “preliminary intent to appoint a special master” to review the documents seized during the FBI’s raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon said in a Saturday order that she was providing “notice” of the decision to the parties involved, noting that the decision was made due to the “exceptional circumstances presented.” On Monday, lawyers for the former president filed a motion requesting the appointment of a special master to assess the records, arguing that the raid of his Palm Beach, Florida, golf club and winter residence was a “shockingly aggressive move.”
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“Pursuant to Rule 53(b) (1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Court’s inherent authority, and without prejudice to the parties’ objections, the Court hereby provides notice of its preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case,” Cannon wrote in a filing Saturday.
A hearing on the motion to commission a special master, also known as a third-party attorney, will be held this Thursday in West Palm Beach.
The District Court judge ordered the Justice Department to file a response by Wednesday providing, “under seal,” a “more detailed Receipt for Property specifying all property seized pursuant to the search warrant executed” on Trump’s Florida golf club. The judge also ordered Trump’s legal team to respond to the defense’s response before Thursday’s hearing.
Trump’s lawyers wrote in their Monday filing requesting a special master: “Law enforcement is a shield that protects America. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes. Therefore, we seek judicial assistance in the aftermath of an unprecedented and unnecessary raid.”
Trump’s team filed additional motions during the week to satisfy questions Cannon had and additional details she had requested. The motions filed in the Southern District of Florida were part of a larger lawsuit from the former president’s lawyers, which asked the judge to block the DOJ from further reviewing the seized materials until a special master had gone through them.
The decision on the special master comes one day after the Justice Department released a redacted version of the affidavit behind the Mar-a-Lago search. Although the document was heavily redacted, it did cite “national defense information” found in boxes obtained from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year as justification for seeking the warrant. It also cited evidence of potential obstruction of justice.
Roughly 184 documents collected from Mar-a-Lago during a January transfer with the National Archives and Records Administration contained material that bore classified markings and ultimately led to the Aug. 8 raid, according to the affidavit. In that batch, 67 documents were marked “confidential,” 92 were marked “secret,” and 25 were designated “top secret.”
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Trump has not been charged in the incident, though DOJ’s investigation into his handling of White House documents continues. He has denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the files he possessed were “all declassified.”
Still, not all of his legal allies agree that his behavior was safe from scrutiny. Famed constitutional attorney Alan Dershowitz, who defended Trump in his first impeachment hearings, argued on Friday that there was enough evidence to indict Trump. He cautioned, however, that prosecutors wouldn’t charge him due to precedents he dubbed the “Nixon-Clinton standards.”
