Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Monday objected to a request by the U.S. Justice Department to continue reviewing the contents of classified documents seized by the FBI from his Florida estate last month, in an ongoing criminal investigation. In a court filing, his lawyers also asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to include the roughly 100 documents that had been marked classified and were among more than 11,000 records recovered in the court-authorized search on August 8 in an upcoming review of the material by an independent arbitrator, called a special master. In another development, the Justice Department charged a Texas woman who prosecutors accused of making phone threats against Cannon, including saying the judge was “marked for murder.” The incident marks the latest example of threats reported against various federal authorities in recent months. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Trump is under investigation by the Justice Department for keeping government records — some of which have been classified as top secret, including “top secret” — at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach after he left office in January of 2021. The ministry is also examining possible blockage of the catheter. The special master, who has not yet been named, could block the department from using certain documents. FBI agents recovered the records during a court-authorized investigation on August 8. read more Cannon previously blocked the department from immediately using the seized records in the investigation, a move that would slow prosecutors’ work and make it more difficult for them to determine whether additional classified materials might be missing. read more Trump’s lawyers in Monday’s filing said they dispute the department’s contention that the roughly 100 documents at issue are actually classified and reminded Cannon that a president generally has broad powers to declassify records. They stopped short of suggesting Trump had declassified the documents, a claim he has made on social media but not in court filings. “There remains a dispute over the classification status of the documents,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “The government’s position therefore presupposes a fact that has yet to be ascertained.” If the judge decides the Justice Department can’t continue to rely on the classified materials for its criminal investigation or insists on letting the special master examine them, prosecutors have vowed to appeal to a higher court. “In what is at its core a document storage controversy that has spiraled out of control, the government wrongfully seeks to criminalize the 45th President’s possession of his own presidential and personal records,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “Therefore, the government should not be allowed to bypass the process and jump straight to a foregone conclusion,” they added. The probe into the documents is one of several federal and state probes Trump has faced since his time in office and into private businesses. He has suggested he may run for president again in 2024. After the investigation, Trump’s lawyers sought the appointment of a special master to review the seized records for material that could be covered by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege — a legal doctrine that can protect some presidential records from disclosure. . In ruling in favor of Trump’s request last week, Cannon rejected the Justice Department’s arguments that the records belong to the government and that because Trump is no longer president he cannot claim executive privilege. Cannon was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020. Read more If the special master rules that some of the material is covered by Trump’s claims of privilege, it could hamper the government’s investigation. The Justice Department on Friday nominated retired federal judges Barbara Jones and Thomas Griffiths to serve as a special administrator, while Trump’s team nominated federal judge Raymond Deary and Paul Hack, a former deputy attorney general of Florida. The two sides are expected to give the judge later Monday their views on each other’s proposed nominees. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Doina Chiacu. Edited by Will Dunham Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
