Donald Trump‘s legal team shot back at the Department of Justice following an explosive filing from prosecutors Tuesday that included a photo of classified documents obtained from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Their response, which came just before the 8 p.m. deadline, is the final submission in the lead-up to a hearing on Trump’s special master request set for Thursday. Beyond demanding an independent review with broad authority, Trump’s lawyers took aim at the investigation as a whole in the 19-page document.
“The purported justification for the initiation of this criminal probe was the alleged discovery of sensitive information contained within the 15 boxes of Presidential records. But this ‘discovery’ was to be fully anticipated given the very nature of Presidential records. Simply put, the notion that Presidential records would contain sensitive information should have never been cause for alarm,” the filing says.
The DOJ opposes a third-party review of the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago earlier this month by the FBI. In their filing Tuesday, prosecutors said the “appointment of a special master is unnecessary and would significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests,” and “would impede the government’s ongoing criminal investigation.”
A government “filter team” has “already completed its work of segregating any seized materials that are potentially subject to attorney-client privilege, and the government’s investigative team has already reviewed all of the remaining materials, including any that are potentially subject to claims of executive privilege,” the DOJ filing added.
LINDSEY GRAHAM PREDICTS RIOTS IF TRUMP IS PROSECUTED OVER CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS
Trump’s legal team argues that their client’s constitutional rights were violated and that there may have been privileged documents among those taken by federal officials, and the former president is pursuing the appointment of a special master to review independently the evidence that the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago home.
“In general, the Court should task the special master with conducting a review of all of the Seized Materials, not only those seized from the ’45 Office’ and identified by the Privilege Review Team as potentially privileged, to identify documents subject to the [Presidential Records Act] and attorney-client and/or executive privileges. Thereafter, the special master should have the duty of adjudicating any privilege or categorization disputes that arise between the parties,” the Trump team said in their filing on Wednesday.
After going through some demands for the special master’s role, the Trump team also said the government should provide it and the special master with “a copy of the Seized Materials, a copy of the Search Warrant, and an unredacted copy of the underlying application materials. In light of the deficiency of the initial property inventory (inventory) unsealed by the Government, the Movant respectfully asks for access, even if under seal, to the recent submission by the Government that purports to better particularize the seized items and the location of their seizure. The special master should also have access to any other relevant materials, information, or individuals that are necessary to perform the assigned duties.”
Last week, lawyers for Trump filed a motion requesting the appointment of a special master to assess the records, arguing that the raid of his Palm Beach golf club and winter residence was a “shockingly aggressive move.” Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida signaled her “preliminary intent” to side with Trump in the special master request.
In what began as a National Archives effort to retrieve documents from Trump after he left office and led to a Justice Department investigation, classified documents have been obtained from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, including what the government says are dozens of records with classification markings. A photo included as an exhibit in the DOJ filing on Tuesday shows a series of documents on a carpeted floor, some with “secret” or “top secret” marked on them. A box with a framed copy of Time magazine Trump was on the cover of can also be seen in the photograph.
An unsealed warrant showed the former president is being investigated for possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice. An underlying affidavit, which featured many redactions, noted the “government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records.” It added that there is “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found.”
The Trump team on Wednesday accused the DOJ of having “significantly mischaracterized” a June meeting between Trump representatives and federal investigators and criticized prosecutors for “gratuitously” including the photograph of “allegedly classified materials, pulled from a container and spread across the floor for dramatic effect” in its filing on Tuesday.
The lawyers added: “The Government pretends these are not historically important moments, telling this Court that not only does it object to a Special Master, but that the Movant should have no opportunity to challenge any aspect of this behavior and decision-making.”
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Trump claims he declassified all the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago and denied any wrongdoing. “The DOJ and FBI are practicing Election Interference at the highest and most dishonest level our Country has ever seen before, both in the Midterms, and the 2024 Presidential Election,” he said on Truth Social on Sunday.
Trump declared that he declassified documents from the Crossfire Hurricane investigation just before he left office, but it’s unclear whether those records are part of the eclectic array of items found at Mar-a-Lago, either during the raid earlier this month or when government officials obtained documents on at least two other prior occasions.
