Judge appoints special master to handle documents from Mar-a-Lago, dismissing DOJ appeal

A Florida judge on Thursday rejected a Justice Department appeal, preventing it from resuming review of classified documents seized by the FBI from Donald Trump’s Florida estate.

Instead, federal judge Aileen Cannon sided with the former president by appointing senior district judge Raymond Dearie as a “special master” to review the documents seized by the FBI.

Trump’s attorneys last month requested that a third party be put in charge of reviewing the documents to remove any documents protected by executive or attorney-client privilege.

Trump is at the center of a legal battle over thousands of government documents found by FBI agents at his home in Mar-a-Lago. Not only would official records be handed over to the national archives, but many carried “classified” markings.

The Justice Department said a third-party assessment was not necessary in this case. But when the court ruled it would appoint a “special master,” government attorneys said they would accept Dearie, the former chief justice of the Brooklyn federal court, in the role.

However, they have appealed, requesting that 100 documents labeled “classified” be exempted from the review.

It argued that if the documents had been classified, it was nonsensical to suggest that the government had no right to see them.

Plaintiff cannot and cannot claim to own or have any ownership interest in classified documents; that he has any right to have those government documents returned to him; or that he can make plausible claims of attorney-client privilege with respect to such documents that would prevent the government from reviewing or using them,” it said in its appeal.

In making her decision, Cannon said it was a matter of dispute whether the files were indeed classified.

Thus, in many respects, the Government’s position presupposes the content, designation and associated interests in materials under its control – but, as evidenced by the parties’ competing filings, there are disputes over proper designation of the seized materials, the legal implications arising from those designations, and the intersecting bodies of law permeating those designations,” she wrote.

As a result, she went ahead with the appointment of Dearie, who has considerable experience handling sensitive intelligence.

He was the chief prosecutor in Brookyln, New York, before being appointed to federal court by Ronald Reagan in 1986.

His file contained high-profile terrorism cases, including some from abroad.

He was also a member of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes wiretapping requests from the Department of Justice for investigations into suspected foreign agents.

Trump, for his part, has denied all wrongdoing and insists he is the victim of a political conspiracy to knock him out of the 2024 election.

He told radio host Hugh Hewitt that the Justice Department had no justification for his actions.

“There’s no reason they could be, except if they’re just sick and insane, which is always possible, because I’ve done absolutely – you see the legal papers – absolutely nothing wrong,” he said.