In a 21-page response to a Justice Department request asking the court to lift part of an order preventing the documents from being used for investigative purposes, Trump’s lawyers called the federal investigation into his handling of sensitive records “unprecedented and misguided” and they said There is “no indication that alleged ‘classified records’ were disclosed to anyone.” “Indeed, it appears that such “classified files,” along with the other seized materials, were primarily located in storage boxes in a locked room at Mar-a-Lago, a secure, controlled access regularly used to conduct the official business of the United States. States during the Trump Presidency, which are to this day monitored by the United States Secret Service,” Trump’s legal team told the court. In a separate filing Monday afternoon, the former president’s lawyers objected to the two Justice Department nominees — retired judges Barbara Jones, who served on the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and Thomas Griffith, who served on the Court of the USA. Appeals to Washington — to serve as an independent third party to review records seized by the FBI during its Aug. 8 investigation at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s legal team did not elaborate on why the former president opposes the Justice Department’s special primary motions, telling the court “it is more respectful for candidates of either party to withhold from the public the grounds for opposition and are likely to be widely circulated.” . , pleading.” They asked the court for permission to object to Jones and Griffiths only if the judge “determines a desire to receive and review this information.” The filings from Trump’s lawyers are the latest to stem from his request last month to have a neutral third party review material obtained by federal investigators. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon authorized the appointment of the special master last week, and federal prosecutors notified a federal court in South Florida last week of their intention to appeal Cannon’s decision. Justice Department lawyers, including top national security officials, also asked Cannon to put part of her decision on hold to allow investigators to continue examining a tranche of 103 files marked “confidential,” “top secret” or “privacy”. Federal prosecutors argued in court documents that the markings “demonstrate on the face of the documents that they are government records,” not Trump’s personal records. They warned that the government and the wider public would suffer what they saw as “irreparable damage” if the materials could not be reviewed and used in the criminal investigation into the former president’s handling of sensitive records. The Justice Department also told the court last week that temporarily barring investigators from reviewing and using the most sensitive records obtained from Mar-a-Lago would “prevent the government’s ability to conduct an effective national security risk assessment and classification assessment and could preclude the administration from taking necessary corrective action in light of that review,” risking harm to US national security and intelligence interests. But in countering federal prosecutors’ motion, the former president’s lawyers argued Monday that he had “broad authority” to declassify documents and, as a former president, has an “unfettered right” to access presidential records under the Presidential Records Act. The dispute over the records, the court was told, is a “document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control”. “[T]”The government is wrongfully seeking to criminalize the 45th president’s possession of his own presidential and personal records,” Trump’s lawyers argued. In her decision last week granting Trump’s request for a special master, Cannon ordered the Justice Department to temporarily halt “review and use” of the material for investigative purposes pending the completion of the special master’s review. However, it allowed the government to continue to review and use the seized records for “information classification purposes and national security assessments.” Cannon had ordered Trump and the Justice Department to submit by Friday a list of nominees to serve as special master, along with a proposed description of the mechanisms of their review.
While the Justice Department nominated Jones and Griffiths to serve as special master, Trump’s lawyers also nominated two nominees to review the seized materials: Raymond Deary, former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and Paul Huck, former general counsel to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.