The special master tasked with reviewing documents seized at Mar-a Lago gave former President Donald Trump a short window to test claims that the FBI had “planted” evidence.
Judge Raymond Dearie, a special master designee to review the documents, gave Trump’s team until September 30 to file a statement on a number of key issues, including what appeared to be a reference to suggestions from Trump allies. that some of the evidence the FBI collected was “planted.”
Today, Thursday, Dearie asked Trump’s attorneys to submit an affidavit containing “a list of the specific items set forth in the Detailed Property Inventory that [Trump] states that they were not seized at its facilities on August 8, 2022.”
They reveal that Trump had classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago home
Dearie also gave Trump’s team until October 14 to provide the Justice Department with a “final and complete record of the designations,” a point related to the former president’s claims of privilege over the seized documents. Likewise, he established that both Trump and the Justice Department will have until October 21 to send their “final and complete record of disputed appointments” to the special master.
An appeals court granted a Justice Department request for a partial stay of a lower court order. This allows the Federal Government to continue its criminal investigation using the classified documents the FBI seized at Mar-a-Lago.
The three-judge panel’s decision was a victory for the Department. The appeals court also reversed Cannon’s determination that the government would have to provide approximately 100 documents with classified markings to a special master for independent review.
