Chris Lange, FISM News
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The Florida judge presiding over former President Trump’s request for the appointment of a “special master” to review documents seized in an FBI raid of his home declined to issue a ruling Thursday as both sides appeared in a West Palm Beach court to argue their positions on the matter.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon appeared to signal a willingness to grant Trump’s request during the hearing as she pressed the Justice Department on why it so strongly opposes the independent, third-party review.
“Ultimately, what is the harm of appointing a special master to review these materials?” Cannon asked Justice Department prosecutors, Reuters reported. “What I’m wondering from the government – what is the harm beyond delaying the investigation?”
She also suggested that she could create an exception to allow intelligence officials to continue conducting their national security assessment pending the appointment of the special master, which the DOJ rejected.
“Would your position change if the special master were allowed to proceed without affecting the [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] review for intelligence purposes, but pausing any use of the documents in a criminal investigation?” she asked federal prosecutors.
“It would not change,” said Julie Edelstein, the department’s deputy head of counterintelligence. “There is no role for the special master.”
Justice Department attorneys argued that Trump has no right to a third-party review since documents seized in the raid, many of which the DOJ claims are classified, do not belong to him, according to a Bloomberg report.
“He is no longer the president,” Jay Bratt, the Justice Department’s counterintelligence chief, told the judge at the hearing. “And because he is no longer the president, he did not have the right to take those documents. He was unlawfully in possession of them.”
Trump’s new criminal defense attorney, former Florida Solicitor General Christopher Kise, accused the government of fabricating the purported threat posed by Trump’s possession of White House documents, which Trump’s attorneys say were declassified under the broad authority afforded to a sitting president.
“What we’re talking about are presidential records in the hands of the former president of the United States,” Kise said in his opening remarks to the judge. “This is not a case about some Department of Defense staffer stuffing papers in a bag and sneaking out in the middle of the night.”
Judge Cannon did not provide a date for her ultimate decision, saying instead that it will be forthcoming “in due course,” Fox News reported.
Last month, Cannon announced a “preliminary intent” to appoint a third-party overseer, per Trump’s request, to review items seized in the Aug. 8 raid, among which the former president’s legal team says are items protected by attorney-client privilege.
Federal prosecutors filed a response in opposition to the special master request Tuesday which revealed that a government filter team had already combed through the documents and purportedly found only a small number of privileged communications among them. The Justice Department argued that the appointment of a special master was therefore “unnecessary and would significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests.”
Trump’s attorneys responded Wednesday, saying a “fair-minded” Justice Department “that truly embraced the highest ethical standards would, and should, agree” to the appointment of a neutral observer.