A Florida judge has granted former President Donald Trump’s request for a special master to oversee the document review of the materials seized in the August raid of Mar-a-Lago, multiple outlets confirm.
Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in the Trump team’s favor after last week’s filings from both the Department of Justice and Trump on the matter.
FLASH: Judge Aileen Cannon rules in favor of Trump’s motion for “special master” to review items seized from Mar-a-lago
And orders Justice Dept to cease review of materials “pending resolution of the special master’s review process”, though nat’l security assessment can continue pic.twitter.com/CHGf0qiw1G
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) September 5, 2022
READ RELATED: Report: Over 12 Students in Uvalde Were Alive During the Hour Before Police Entered Classroom
“The Government is TEMPORARILY ENJOINED from further review and use of any of the materials” seized in the raid at the former president’s home at Mar-a-Lago, Cannon ruled. The DOJ must wait for the special master to “review the seized property, manage assertions of privilege and make recommendations thereon, and evaluate claims for return of property.”
The Department of Justice had argued in a lengthy 36-page filing that the special master would needlessly impede the investigation. In that filing, they maintained that Trump had dozens of “unfoldered” classified documents that were not properly redacted or declassified and that in taking those documents from the White House he had broken the law.
The Trump team, meanwhile, has argued that Trump had declassified those documents, and Trump himself argued that the investigation is a continued political witch hunt into a political opponent of President Joe Biden.
Trump said at a rally over the weekend that the raid of his home was “One of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in American history,” and that it was “a travesty of justice that made a mockery of America’s laws, traditions, and principles before the entire world.”
Source:
