Associated Press
A federal judge on Monday granted a request by former President Donald Trump’s legal team to appoint a special master to review documents seized by the FBI from his Florida home last month and also temporarily halted the Justice Department’s use of the records for investigative purposes.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon came despite the objections of the Justice Department, which said an outside legal expert was not necessary in part because officials had already completed their review of potentially privileged documents. The judge had previously signaled her inclination to approve a special master, asking a department lawyer during arguments this month, “What is the harm?”
The appointment is likely to slow the pace of the department’s investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago given the judge’s directive that the Justice Department may not for the moment use any of the seized materials for investigative purposes. But it is not clear that it will have any significant effect on any investigative decisions or the ultimate outcome of the probe.
Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020, said she would permit the continuation of a risk assessment of the documents being conducted by the U.S. intelligence community.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that a special master — usually an outside lawyer or former judge — was necessary to ensure an independent review of records taken during the Aug. 8 search. Such a review was necessary, they have said, so that any personal information or documents recovered by the FBI could be filtered out and returned to Trump and so that any documents protected by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege could also be segregated from the rest of the investigation.
The Justice Department had argued against the appointment, saying it was unnecessary since it had already reviewed potentially privileged documents and identified a limited subset of materials that could be covered by attorney-client privilege.
It also said Trump was not entitled to the return of any of the presidential records that were taken since he is no longer president and the documents therefore do not belong to him. And personal items that were recovered were commingled with classified information, giving them potential value as evidence, the department has said.
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Published with permission of The Associated Press.
22 comments
Charlie Crist
September 5, 2022 at 12:59 pm
He will be indicted, he will be charged, he will be held accountable. Just too many crimes so mathematically impossible he escapes justice. Need to give his fat azz the gd chair ⚡
Hope
September 5, 2022 at 1:47 pm
A bad day for Bye-done As Trump gets Special Master, Bed Bath & Beyond who went woke closing 150 stores, now Biden’s decisions not only started a war in the Ukraine, but it is now affecting the Europeans; Biden’s wrath and Chaos knows no bounds.
Charlie Crist may as well be pounding sand as citizens are rejecting him, Warnock, Demings, and Fetterman en masse.
Pastor Sandell
September 5, 2022 at 1:57 pm
Satan has got you by the rotten anchovy you mongrel. Gonna grill your nasty tuna in hell for eternity if you don’t turn to the Lord.
Hope
September 5, 2022 at 2:05 pm
Your psychosis is deflection and you react only advertising that someone hit the nail on the head and you can’t take it. Go pound sand
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Pastor Sandell
September 5, 2022 at 3:14 pm
Yeah Satan is gonna pound your bung with a searing hot jackhammer in hell if you don’t ask God to forgive you for your lies… support for crooks.
Kathy
September 6, 2022 at 5:10 pm
We know he won’t get the chair, no one does anymore and too many adjustments would have to be made to accommodate his girth. I hope and pray that he gets every charge possible. Orange is his color. No matter what the charges, he will end up in a minimum security system and it will be like old home week, this after all of the appeals. If those documents were found in any ones home, they would be locked up already, except the new Teflon Don. I don’t know if this judge did this as, yet, another cronie favor or she knew that the minions would be rioting if Trump did not get his way. This whole situation is truly going to be a turning point for our Country. It terrifies me that he will use the “someone else did it excuse” as we all know his morbidly obese physique is unable to bend at the waist. Any sane person knows he had his hands in all of this dirt, however, sanity has gone out the window along with common sense.
PeterH
September 5, 2022 at 2:06 pm
This goes against the advice of the former attorney General Bill Barr and most knowledgeable federal attorneys. This will not slow down the DOJ’s investigation in any way because they’ve already separated out Trump’s personal documents. The Master will not see the classified documents that Trump deliberately confiscated.
There is also a scenario that the Justice Department will appeal.
Kathy
September 5, 2022 at 2:10 pm
Huge mistake. Another tantrum appeased by a judge appointed by Trump. Go figure.
Jerry
September 5, 2022 at 2:14 pm
A police state where federal agents persecute you for political beliefs.
Parents being viewed as terrorists for speaking up at school board meetings.
Government clamping down on free speech.
A President declaring half the population a threat.
Government that wants to ban guns.
States banning gas-powered cars.
A border completely out of control with drugs and weapons freely coming across.
Mandatory masks and vaccines.
Remember when America used to be a free country?
Elliott Offen
September 5, 2022 at 3:17 pm
Oh BS. You people are just mad that TRUMP was a crook. Been taking it out on law enforcement since January the 6th. Back the blue my ass. You people back crime!!
marylou
September 5, 2022 at 6:04 pm
Biden was not calling half the population a threat. It won’t work to try to drag normal, America- loving, Republicans with traditional values into your small, anti-democracy sect.
marylou
September 5, 2022 at 6:08 pm
* reply to Jerry
marylou
September 5, 2022 at 6:15 pm
What a surprise…. another rich crook delays justice—-AGAIN— while the rest of us would have been in prison long ago
marylou
September 5, 2022 at 6:50 pm
What a surprise…. another rich crook delays justice—-AGAIN— while the rest of us would have been in prison long ago
Tom
September 5, 2022 at 8:41 pm
You cannot educate demented extremist Soros Manchurians. I’ve had success cracking the glass but they are like East Germans, back in day. Google it Neanderthals.
Jerry and Hope raised valid points.
Same meaningless charges, no indictments or charges ever made. Just innuendos, purposeful public persecution.
Peter h. Just to clarify if this withstands appeal, if special master concurs, and court, illegality materials will not be able to be used. Thrown out. Wah, Wah
Really some idiots as Soros Manchurians.
Jenny
September 6, 2022 at 1:00 am
This judge, Aileen Cannon, is obviously a CORRUPT JUDGE as she favor a criminal who appointed her the federal bench. Now she’s merely returning a favor to Trump. This makes the justice system looks like a circus. What worries me more is where the stolen classified material has landed. Has Vladimir Putin, a known Trump’s puppet master, already had US national security secrets in his hands now?
marylou
September 6, 2022 at 1:43 pm
It wouldn’t be surprising if the documents Trump stole gave Putin enough information to know he could safely invade Ukraine, maybe as a way of announcing to the US that he is willing to follow through on his blackmail threats to Trump.
Missing documents from the empty folders marked “Classified” may be in the hands of any one—- or more—-of the nuts whose power Trump envied.
Hoop genius
September 7, 2022 at 1:42 am
Trump watched FOR HOURS as the police were being maimed and attacked and refused to call for backup. And people posting here love him because he told the attackers at the Capital he loved them.
marylou
September 7, 2022 at 7:36 am
Trump watched Ashli Babbitt be shot to death….
marylou
September 7, 2022 at 7:41 am
Trump watched Ashli Babbitt die….
marylou
September 7, 2022 at 8:05 am
Ashli Babbitt, too…..
Comments are closed.