A judge granted the Department of Justice‘s request for an extended response to Donald Trump’s petition for a special master to review materials seized by federal officials from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The decision came shortly after DOJ officials wrote in a filing Monday, “The government seeks to file a response up to forty pages in length in order to adequately address the legal and factual issues raised by Plaintiff’s Motion and Supplement and the Court’s August 27 Order requiring a response from the government.”
TRUMP DEMANDS 2020 REVERSAL OR ‘NEW ELECTION’
Trump has sought the appointment of a special master to oversee the department’s combing of evidence obtained from his Mar-a-Lago resort during the Aug. 8 search and seizure by FBI agents. A judge has signaled her “preliminary intent” to side with Trump in the special master request.
In the filing, the DOJ noted that Trump’s lawyers filed a 27-page and 10-page motion and supplemental motion in his special master request. They argued they needed an exception to exceed the 20-page limit on opposition moratoriums due to the nature of the case. A hearing on the special master request has been set for Thursday.
FLASH/ BUST BUST BUST: Judge grants Justice Department’s page-length motion in Trump Mar-a-Lago search fight. Feds get whopping 40 pages to lay out their position and what’s happened thus far
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) August 29, 2022
Last Monday, lawyers for Trump filed the motion requesting a special master. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon requested additional information about Trump’s request, which his lawyers filed later in the week. The filings took place in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The Justice Department says it has already identified a “limited set” of materials that may include attorney-client privileged information in the trove of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. Its “Privilege Review Team” has been assessing the batch.
The revelation came in a court briefing filed Monday, suggesting Trump’s request may have come too late.
An unsealed warrant showed the former president is being investigated for possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice. An underlying affidavit, which featured many redactions, noted 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.” It added that there is “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found.”
Trump claimed he declassified all the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago and denied any wrongdoing. “The DOJ and FBI are practicing Election Interference at the highest and most dishonest level our Country has ever seen before, both in the Midterms, and the 2024 Presidential Election,” he said on Truth Social on Sunday.
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Authorities reportedly confiscated 26 boxes’ worth of material from Mar-a-Lago during the Aug. 8 raid, which marked an escalation in what has been revealed to be a monthslong back and forth in which the federal government has sought to recover documents, including some that have been deemed classified. Government officials obtained documents on at least two other prior occasions.
The first came in January when the National Archives collected 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago. After discovering material with classified markings, the agency said it referred the matter to the Justice Department. In June, officials returned to Mar-a-Lago and collected additional material. Trump lawyer Christina Bobb then signed a document asserting that all classified material had been returned to the government, the New York Times reported.
