Trump’s attorneys insist special examiner review FBI seized documents

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Monday appealed a Justice Department request in court to continue reviewing classified documents seized last month by the FBI at Trump’s Florida estate as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

In a court filing, Trump’s attorneys also asked District Judge Eileen Cannon to request that an independent special examiner who was appointed to review the documents include about 100 documents marked “classified” in a review of more than 11,000 documents seized during the Mar-a-Lago search.

The motion notes that Trump is challenging the DOJ’s claim that the 100 documents in question are in fact classified. According to Trump’s attorneys, the president usually has broad authority to declassify documents. However, they would not say that Trump declassified the documents – a statement he made on social media but not in official court documents.

“There is still disagreement over the classification of the documents,” Trump’s attorneys said in the motion. – Therefore, the government’s position assumes a fact that has not yet been established.”

Trump is under investigation for retaining government documents, some marked top secret, at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in January 2021. The government is also investigating possible obstruction of the investigation.

Recall that two weeks after the Aug. 8 FBI search, Trump’s attorneys asked the court to appoint a special expert, an independent third party, to examine materials that might be subject to attorney-client privilege.

Not only did Trump’s attorneys want the expert to review materials that are traditionally covered by attorney-client privilege, but they also requested that the special expert be appointed because some documents may be covered by executive privilege.

The DOJ, however, argues that Trump cannot invoke executive privilege because the documents belong to the government, not to him personally.

The DOJ also stated that there was no point in appointing a special expert because a team of DOJ agents not involved in the investigation had already completed their work.

If Judge Cannon decides that the DOJ cannot continue to rely on classified material in its criminal investigation, or insists on allowing the special expert to examine it, DOJ prosecutors can, according to their statement, appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta.