Trump Lawyers Push Again For Special Master In Fbi Mar A Lago Raid

The narrowly focused filing in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach came a day after the Justice Department argued that appointing a special master could harm the government’s national security interests. The Justice Department filing also said “attempts were likely made to obstruct the administration’s investigation” of records sent to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence after his presidency ended. And the Justice Department revealed that the FBI seized more than 100 classified documents from the Palm Beach resort during its search of the facility earlier this month. The agency also shared a redacted FBI photo showing classified documents recovered from a dumpster in Trump’s “45 Office.” Trump’s legal team in its response Wednesday night accused the Justice Department of turning “the context of responding to a motion for a Special Master into a comprehensive challenge to any litigation, now or in the future, of any aspect of his unprecedented conduct that the research”. The administration’s “emergency document” suggests “that the Department of Justice, and the Department of Justice alone, should be entrusted with the responsibility of evaluating its unjustified pursuit of criminalizing the possession of personal and presidential records by a former President in a secure environment,” wrote the Trump’s lawyers. They also accused the Justice Department of providing multiple “misleading or incomplete statements[s] of the alleged “event,” but offered few details. Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, has set a hearing for Thursday at 1:00 PM ET in a West Palm Beach court. Trump had sued to block the Justice Department from further investigating any materials taken in the Mar-a-Lago raid until a special master could analyze them. This step is usually taken when there is a possibility that some information may be withheld from prosecutors due to various legal privileges. The Justice Department told the judge on Monday that a review of the seized materials had been completed and that a law enforcement team had identified a “limited set” of materials that may be protected by the attorney-client privilege. This privilege often refers to the legal doctrine that protects the privacy of communications between a lawyer and his client. Trump’s lawyers responded Wednesday that the so-called Privilege Review Team was “wholly deficient” in identifying and separating all potentially privileged documents from the rest of the seized material. Trump and his office have publicly maintained that he declassified all documents seized by the FBI. But Trump’s legal team did not make that express argument in the civil suit before Cannon. The Justice Department in a late-night filing Tuesday said that when 15 boxes were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago by the National Archives in January, Trump “never claimed executive privilege on any of the documents or claimed that any of the documents in the boxes containing the classification marks had been declassified.’ The government also said no claims of declassification were made when FBI agents went to Mar-a-Lago on June 3, pursuant to a subpoena to collect other classified records in Trump’s possession. The Justice Department said it received that subpoena in May after the FBI developed evidence that dozens of boxes of classified information — in addition to the 15 boxes recovered in January — were still at Trump’s residence. “When producing the documents, neither counsel nor the custodian argued that the former President had declassified the documents or that he had claimed executive privilege. single Redweld folder, double-wrapped in tape, containing the documents,” the DOJ wrote. At the same time, the custodian of Trump’s records had also produced an affidavit of certification alleging that “any and all” documents responding to a grand jury subpoena had been turned over, the DOJ wrote. But the FBI later “uncovered multiple sources of evidence” indicating that more classified documents remained at Mar-a-Lago, according to the DOJ filing. “The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Vault and that efforts were likely made to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the DOJ wrote. This and other information led the government to seek a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago, which was finally conducted on August 8. In their response Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers wrote that the Justice Department’s account of the June 3 meeting “has been materially mischaracterized.” “If the Government provided the same false account in the affidavit in support of the search warrant, then they misled the District Attorney,” the former president’s lawyers wrote. Trump, in a social media post earlier Wednesday night, also accused the Justice Department of being “very deceptive” by sharing a photo that appeared to show several classified documents strewn across a carpeted floor. Trump clarified that the FBI “took them out of cardboard boxes and spread them around the carpet, making it look like a big ‘find’ to them.” “They shot them, not me – Very deceptive…And remember, we could not have ANY representatives, including lawyers, present during the raid. They were told to wait outside,” Trump wrote.

title: “Trump Lawyers Push Again For Special Master In Fbi Mar A Lago Raid Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-02” author: “Anne Bruton”

The narrowly focused filing in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach came a day after the Justice Department argued that appointing a special master could harm the government’s national security interests. The Justice Department filing also said “attempts were likely made to obstruct the administration’s investigation” of records sent to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence after his presidency ended. And the Justice Department revealed that the FBI seized more than 100 classified documents from the Palm Beach resort during its search of the facility earlier this month. The agency also shared a redacted FBI photo showing classified documents recovered from a dumpster in Trump’s “45 Office.” Trump’s legal team in its response Wednesday night accused the Justice Department of turning “the context of responding to a motion for a Special Master into a comprehensive challenge to any litigation, now or in the future, of any aspect of his unprecedented conduct that the research”. The administration’s “emergency document” suggests “that the Department of Justice, and the Department of Justice alone, should be entrusted with the responsibility of evaluating its unjustified pursuit of criminalizing the possession of personal and presidential records by a former President in a secure environment,” wrote the Trump’s lawyers. They also accused the Justice Department of providing multiple “misleading or incomplete statements[s] of the alleged “event,” but offered few details. Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, has set a hearing for Thursday at 1:00 PM ET in a West Palm Beach court. Trump had sued to block the Justice Department from further investigating any materials taken in the Mar-a-Lago raid until a special master could analyze them. This step is usually taken when there is a possibility that some information may be withheld from prosecutors due to various legal privileges. The Justice Department told the judge on Monday that a review of the seized materials had been completed and that a law enforcement team had identified a “limited set” of materials that may be protected by the attorney-client privilege. This privilege often refers to the legal doctrine that protects the privacy of communications between a lawyer and his client. Trump’s lawyers responded Wednesday that the so-called Privilege Review Team was “wholly deficient” in identifying and separating all potentially privileged documents from the rest of the seized material. Trump and his office have publicly maintained that he declassified all documents seized by the FBI. But Trump’s legal team did not make that express argument in the civil suit before Cannon. The Justice Department in a late-night filing Tuesday said that when 15 boxes were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago by the National Archives in January, Trump “never claimed executive privilege on any of the documents or claimed that any of the documents in the boxes containing the classification marks had been declassified.’ The government also said no claims of declassification were made when FBI agents went to Mar-a-Lago on June 3, pursuant to a subpoena to collect other classified records in Trump’s possession. The Justice Department said it received that subpoena in May after the FBI developed evidence that dozens of boxes of classified information — in addition to the 15 boxes recovered in January — were still at Trump’s residence. “When producing the documents, neither counsel nor the custodian argued that the former President had declassified the documents or that he had claimed executive privilege. single Redweld folder, double-wrapped in tape, containing the documents,” the DOJ wrote. At the same time, the custodian of Trump’s records had also produced an affidavit of certification alleging that “any and all” documents responding to a grand jury subpoena had been turned over, the DOJ wrote. But the FBI later “uncovered multiple sources of evidence” indicating that more classified documents remained at Mar-a-Lago, according to the DOJ filing. “The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Vault and that efforts were likely made to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the DOJ wrote. This and other information led the government to seek a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago, which was finally conducted on August 8. In their response Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers wrote that the Justice Department’s account of the June 3 meeting “has been materially mischaracterized.” “If the Government provided the same false account in the affidavit in support of the search warrant, then they misled the District Attorney,” the former president’s lawyers wrote. Trump, in a social media post earlier Wednesday night, also accused the Justice Department of being “very deceptive” by sharing a photo that appeared to show several classified documents strewn across a carpeted floor. Trump clarified that the FBI “took them out of cardboard boxes and spread them around the carpet, making it look like a big ‘find’ to them.” “They shot them, not me – Very deceptive…And remember, we could not have ANY representatives, including lawyers, present during the raid. They were told to wait outside,” Trump wrote.