A hearing is set to be held on Sept. 1 to address former President Donald Trump’s request for a special master to review materials that were seized from his Florida Mar-a-Lago home by federal agents.
Trump and his lawyers have argued that a special master is necessary to ensure the Department of Justice returns any of his private documents seized during the search of Mar-a-Lago, and identifies any of the documents that might be protected by executive privilege. They also cited other cases in which one has been approved, including after agents seized materials from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
According to the court documents filed on Saturday, Cannon has also given federal officials until the end of the month, specifically on or before Aug. 30, to provide the court with a more detailed list of items the FBI removed from Trump’s Florida estate on Aug. 8 under seal.
Lawyers for the former president have accused investigators of failing to disclose enough information to them about what specific documents were removed from Mar-a-Lago and have asked investigators to return any items outside the scope of the search warrant.
Not a Final Determination
“Pursuant to Rule 53(b) (1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Court’s inherent authority, and without prejudice to the parties’ objections, the Court hereby provides notice of its preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case,” Cannon wrote.The judge noted, however, that the preliminary order “should not be construed as a final determination” on Trump’s motion.
That effectively undercuts Trump’s request to have a special master oversee the documents.
“Additionally, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) are currently facilitating a classification review of materials recovered pursuant to the search,” prosecutors said. “As the Director of National Intelligence advised Congress, ODNI is also leading an intelligence community assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of these materials.”
There has still not been any public statement by the DOJ nor the FBI as to what exactly agents were searching for at Mar-a-Lago or why.
“The government seeks to file a response up to forty pages in length in order to adequately address the legal and factual issues raised by Plaintiffs Motion and Supplement and the Court’s August 17 order requiring a response from the government,” the DOJ wrote.