On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Elaine Cannon, a Trump appointee, ordered the appointment of a special master to review materials seized in the Mar-a-Lago search, halting the former president’s investigation under the Espionage Act. The Justice Department responded Thursday to a motion seeking access to only the classified documents authorities found at the Florida property, adding that the special master can review anything else seized. Then on Friday, both sides filed a joint filing that covers areas of agreement and disagreement, including who would be nominated to be a special master and who would compensate the individual for his time. One clause of the motion reads: “Plaintiff [Donald Trump] proposes to share equally the professional fees and expenses of the Special Teacher and any professionals, support staff and special advisers hired at the Teacher’s request.” It continues: “The government’s position is that, as the party requesting the special master, the Plaintiff should bear the additional costs of the Special Master’s work.” Each side also nominated two candidates for the position, with the government nominating the Honorable Barbara Jones, a retired U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of New York and a partner at Bracewell LLP. and the Honorable Thomas B Griffith, retired US District Judge for the District of Columbia District, Special Counsel at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, and Lecturer at Harvard Law School. The Trump team’s nominees are the Honorable Raymond J Dearie, former Chief Judge of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, who served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and former US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; and Paul Huck Jr, founder of The Huck Law Firm, former partner at Jones Day, former general counsel to the governor, former deputy attorney general for the State of Florida.
