Judge grants Trump request for 'special master' to review documents seized during Mar-a-Lago search
In a legal victory for former President Donald Trump, a federal judge on Monday granted his request for a special master to review documents seized by the FBI from his Florida home and also temporarily halted the Justice Department's own use of the records for investigative purposes.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon authorizes an outside expert to review the records taken during the Aug. 8 search and to weed out from the rest of the investigation any that might be protected by claims of attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. Some of those records may ultimately be returned to Trump, but the judge put off a ruling on that question.
The order came despite the strenuous objections of the Justice Department, which said an outside legal expert was not necessary in part because officials had already completed their review of potentially privileged documents. The department said Monday that it was reviewing the decision but did not indicate if and when it might appeal.
The order almost certainly slows the pace of the department바카라 게임 웹사이트s investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago, particularly given the judge바카라 게임 웹사이트s directive that the Justice Department may not for the moment use any of the seized materials as part of its investigation into the storage of government secrets at the Florida property. The injunction is in place until the yet-to-be-named special master completes his or her work, or until 바카라 게임 웹사이트further court order.바카라 게임 웹사이트
바카라 게임 웹사이트The Court is mindful that restraints on criminal prosecutions are disfavored, but finds that these unprecedented circumstances call for a brief pause to allow for neutral, third-party review to ensure a just process with adequate safeguards,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Cannon, a Trump appointee, wrote in her 24-page order.
Even so, it is not clear that the decision will present a long-term impediment to the investigation's progress or significantly affect investigative decisions or the ultimate outcome of the probe. And a separate assessment by the U.S. intelligence community of the risk posed by the apparent mishandling of classified records will continue under the judge's order.
바카라 게임 웹사이트While this is a victory for the former President, it is by no means an overwhelming win for him,바카라 게임 웹사이트 David Weinstein, a Florida criminal defense lawyer and former Justice Department prosecutor, said in an email. 바카라 게임 웹사이트While it is a setback for the government, it is also not a devastating loss for them.바카라 게임 웹사이트
He noted, for instance, that the judge did not immediately order the seized documents returned to Trump or suppress any of the evidence.
Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said Monday that 바카라 게임 웹사이트the United States is examining the opinion and will consider appropriate next steps in the ongoing litigation.바카라 게임 웹사이트 A lawyer for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
The department and Trump's lawyers are to submit by Friday a list of proposed special master candidates.
FBI agents in August seized roughly 11,000 documents and 1,800 other items from Mar-a-Lago as part of a criminal investigation into the retention of national defense information there, as well as into efforts to obstruct the probe. About 100 of the documents contained classification markings.
Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers had argued that a special master, usually an outside lawyer or former judge, was necessary to ensure an independent review of records taken during the search and so that any personal information or documents could be filtered out and returned to Trump.
In this case, the seized records 바카라 게임 웹사이트include medical documents, correspondence related to taxes, and accounting information,바카라 게임 웹사이트 the judge's order said.
Cannon said it was too soon to know whether Trump will be entitled to the return of any of the records, but 바카라 게임 웹사이트for now, the circumstances surrounding the seizure in this case and the associated need for adequate procedural safeguards are sufficiently compelling to at least get Plaintiff past the courthouse doors.바카라 게임 웹사이트
She also said she found persuasive his lawyers' arguments that he faced potentially 바카라 게임 웹사이트irreparable injury바카라 게임 웹사이트 by being denied access to records that might be of significant personal interest to him. She said the investigative process had, so far, been 바카라 게임 웹사이트closed off바카라 게임 웹사이트 to him.
바카라 게임 웹사이트As a function of Plaintiff바카라 게임 웹사이트s former position as President of the United States, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Cannon wrote. 바카라 게임 웹사이트A future indictment, based to any degree on property that ought to be returned, would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The Justice Department had argued against the appointment, saying it was unnecessary because it had already reviewed potentially privileged documents and identified a limited subset that could be covered by attorney-client privilege.
The department had been using a separate 바카라 게임 웹사이트privilege review team바카라 게임 웹사이트 for that work, but Cannon cited at least two instances in which members of the investigative team were 바카라 게임 웹사이트exposed바카라 게임 웹사이트 to potentially privileged material, something she said raised questions about the adequacy of the process.
The department had also said Trump was not entitled to the return of any of the presidential records that were taken since he is no longer president and the documents therefore do not belong to him. And personal items that were recovered were commingled with classified information, giving them potential evidentiary value, the department said.
Though prosecutors had argued that Trump, as a former president, had no legal basis to assert executive privilege over the documents, the judge said he was entitled to raise it as a concern and permitted the special master to look for records that might be covered by that privilege.
바카라 게임 웹사이트The major sticking point, I think, is that the executive privilege documents were included바카라 게임 웹사이트 in the judge바카라 게임 웹사이트s decision, said Florida criminal defense lawyer Richard Serafini, a former Justice Department prosecutor.
Cannon, who was nominated by Trump in 2020, had signaled last month that she was inclined to appoint a special master and did so again during arguments last week, asking at one point, 바카라 게임 웹사이트Ultimately, what is the harm in the appointment of a special master to sort through these issues without creating undue delay?바카라 게임 웹사이트