Trump attorneys respond to latest Justice Department filing on classified documents at Mar-a-Lago
Trump's legal team responded to the latest Justice Department filing by renewing its request for a third party to review documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.
Donald Trump's legal team on Wednesday renewed its request for a third party to review documents FBI agents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate, arguing that left to their own devices, "unchecked investigators" would selectively leak bits of their investigation with no recourse for the former president.
"Left unchecked, the DOJ will impugn, leak, and publicize selective aspects of their investigation with no recourse for [Trump] but to somehow trust the self-restraint of currently unchecked investigators," Trump's attorneys wrote in response to Tuesday night's filing from the Justice Department. "While DOJ may have succeeded in taking a partial filter to their rummaged proceeds, the need for a Special Master remains in place."
Trump's lawyers insisted that appointing a special master would be a "modest step" to ensure their access to a detailed inventory of seized material and allow for independent assessments of attorney-client privilege and determinations of executive privilege.
The Justice Department opposed Trump’s request Aug. 22 for a special master. It said Trump's request was “unnecessary,” adding that granting such a request “would significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests.”
The Justice Department also said it had developed evidence “that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” with government records “likely concealed and removed” in the months before the Aug. 8 search.
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