Trump Scores Two Huge Victories in Fight for Special Master
By The Federalist. The Biden administration cannot use the documents the FBI seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home for criminal investigative purposes until a special master completes an independent review of the material, a federal judge held on Thursday.
That decision and the court’s selection of Trump’s preferred special master candidate, coupled with the fulsome review process adopted yesterday by presiding Judge Aileen Cannon, represent a huge victory for the former president. But Trump’s win shouldn’t be a loss for the Department of Justice—unless the Biden administration played fast and loose with the facts and seeks to hide the truth from the country to launch an October surprise.
During the August 8, 2022, Mar-a-Lago raid, the FBI seized more than 11,000 documents, as well as clothing and other items from the Trumps’ home. On September 5, 2022, Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, granted the former president’s request for the appointment of a special master to review the seized property. That order left open several issues, however, including the identity of the special master and the process and timing for the review.
Pending the special master’s review of the seized material, Judge Cannon also entered an injunction prohibiting the government from using the documents “for criminal investigative purposes. Three days later, the DOJ filed a notice of appeal, announcing its intent to ask the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Cannon’s injunction.
The DOJ simultaneously filed a partial motion to stay with the trial court, asking Cannon to put on hold her ruling as to the documents marked classified. Specifically, the DOJ asked the court to hold that while its appeal proceeds, it need not provide documents marked as classified to the special master for review. The DOJ also asked the court to allow it to use the documents marked classified as part of its criminal investigation during the pendency of the appeal. (Read more from “Trump Scores Two Huge Victories in Fight for Special Master” HERE)
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Judge Blocks DOJ’s Unchecked Review of Records Seized in Mar-A-Lago Raid
By The Blaze. On September 15, federal district Judge Aileen Cannon denied two requests that the Department of Justice made last Thursday: First, that the DOJ be allowed to resume reviewing allegedly classified records seized by the FBI in its August 8 raid of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence; and second, that no neutral third party be brought on to vet these same documents.
Cannon wrote: “The court does not find it appropriate to accept the government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion.”
She took issue with the DOJ’s demand that she “adopt hastily without further review by a Special Master” their premises and called into question the department’s representation of the documents, saying “evenhanded procedure does not demand unquestioning trust in the determinations of the Department of Justice.”
In a Monday filing, Trump’s attorneys noted that the former president is endowed with the powers to declassify records, without expressly stating that Trump had done so. Trump has, however, explicitly indicated he declassified the documents. (Read more from “Judge Blocks DOJ’s Unchecked Review of Records Seized in Mar-A-Lago Raid” HERE)
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