“In what is at its core a document storage controversy that has spiraled out of control, the government is wrongfully seeking to criminalize the 45th President’s possession of his own presidential and personal records,” Trump’s lawyers wrote, arguing that prosecutors are trying to limit any outside review of what they consider to be “classified records.” The filing was in response to the Justice Department’s request to U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon to temporarily stay portions of her ruling appointing a special master to examine the contents of more than two dozen boxes and other items seized from the club and Trump’s residence in August. 8. Federal prosecutors asked the judge to withhold her earlier ruling that the FBI not use more than 100 classified documents seized during the investigation until they are reviewed by an outside legal expert. The government also asked Cannon to exempt the classified documents from review by the outside expert, known as a special master, saying that requiring such a review would unnecessarily complicate national security issues in the high-profile case. In the new filing, Trump’s lawyers disagree, charging that prosecutors are overstating national security concerns and that “there is no indication that alleged ‘classified files’ were disclosed to anyone.” For months before the FBI’s Aug. 8 Mar-a-Lago search, the National Archives and Records Administration and the Justice Department had been trying to get Trump to return all the White House and presidential documents he still had of, according to court records in the case. . In May, the government subpoenaed Trump, asking for all the classified documents he still had. His lawyers told the government in response to the subpoena that everything had been returned. But the search last month yielded an additional 27 boxes containing a mix of personal items and classified and unclassified government material. This is a developing story. He will be informed.
