The Justice Department and former President Donald Trump’s lawyers clashed once again in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, this time in a court filing late Friday, where they offered very different proposals for how the agency should operate. critical special control of seized documents.
Although the document on Friday appeared in the file as a “joint response,” the two sides, predictably, did not agree on much.
The new filing revealed the names of the former judges and an attorney the respective sides have proposed to serve as a special master — the third-party attorney reviewing the documents. The candidates bring interesting experience to the table – one authored a report debunking Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, and another was involved in the controversial surveillance of a Trump campaign aide in 2016.
It will be up to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to find the way forward in the legal battle that could determine how far the Justice Department can go in its investigation into how White House documents ended up in the Mar-a- Lake.
Here are the details from Friday’s court filing:
Trump’s team is calling for an extensive independent review to filter out documents that have attorney-client privilege or fall under executive privilege.
Federal prosecutors don’t want the executive privilege review to take place, and they don’t want the special master to even see any of the 100-plus classified records seized from Mar-a-Lago.
Prosecutors also say the special master should “submit to NARA,” the National Archives and Records Administration, any documents Trump claims are covered by executive privilege and consult with the agency “to identify presidential records.” (NARA previously rejected Trump’s claims of executive privilege for materials, including classified documents, which he eventually voluntarily turned over in January.)
Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, want the special master to review “all seized materials,” including classified files.
They also want the special master to “evaluate possible claims of executive privilege” in the documents. And they said there’s no reason why the special master “should or needs” to consult with NARA about anything.
Thomas Griffith, served on the prestigious DC Circuit Court of Appeals from 2005 to 2020. In one of his last major decisions before his retirement, he wrote the majority that rejected House Democrats’ attempt to impeach former counsel of Trump in the White House, Don McG. (The decision was later overturned.)
Since his retirement, Griffith co-authored a report with other prominent conservative lawyers and officials debunking Trump’s lies about massive fraud in the 2020 election. He also publicly endorsed President Joe Biden’s nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court.
Barbara Jones, a former federal prosecutor and retired judge who has been an expert witness in several recent high-profile investigations.
She was a special master to review materials seized during an FBI raid on Rudy Giuliani’s home and office in April 2021. She was also a special master in the Michael Cohen case, to make sure investigators didn’t delete any documents who was an attorney-client privilege.
Paul Huck Jr., who now has his own law firm, was a partner at the law firm Jones Day, which represented the Trump campaign in 2016.
Hack also previously served as a deputy attorney general for Florida and as general counsel to former Florida Governor Charlie Crist – then a Republican and now the Democratic candidate for governor in Florida.
However, there is a potential complication: Chris Kise, Trump’s current lawyer, also worked for Crist and overlapped with Huck.
Raymond Dearie has served as a federal judge in New York since 1986. He retired in 2011 and is now a senior circuit judge.
Dearie also served a seven-year term on the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA court. He was one of the judges who approved a request by the FBI and the Justice Department to monitor Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page as part of the federal investigation into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
There are many documents from Mar-a-Lago to review, and Trump’s team is in no rush. They suggested that the special master should have 90 days to complete his work.
The Justice Department wants to move faster, proposing to complete the review by October 17.
Historically, Trump has not hesitated to exhaust his legal options, and we could end up seeing appeals to the Supreme Court. Already, the Justice Department has appealed Cannon’s original decision requiring the special master.
Someone has to pay for the master’s time and resources, and no one offers to pick up the full check.
Justice Department lawyers told Cannon they believe Trump should pay for the whole thing because he’s the one “asking for the special master.”
Trump’s lawyers suggest that the expenses of the Mar-a-Lago special master should be “split evenly” between him and the US government.
Trump’s team said the Justice Department “wrongly assumes” that documents are classified forever if they are classified.
More than 100 redacted documents were seized from Mar-a-Lago during the FBI’s search in early August.
“Their position wrongly assumes that if a document is classified, it remains classified in perpetuity,” the filing says, explaining Trump’s position on the matter.
Their comment raises the specter that some of the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago may have been declassified, even though the documents are classified.
Trump and his allies have publicly claimed he issued a blanket order declassifying much of the material in question. CNN previously reported that 18 former Trump officials believe the claim is false, and Trump’s lawyers have not made that claim in court, where there are legal consequences for lying.
Cannon has some tough decisions to make, with the whole country watching.
In its initial decision on Labor Day, it said it would act quickly, but there is no official deadline at this time.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department is appealing its original decision to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At the same time, the DOJ asked Cannon to reconsider her decision and let her continue to review the seized documents for both criminal investigative and intelligence purposes. Cannon asked Trump to respond by 10 a.m. Monday. ET.
