Former President Donald Trump opposes the two proposed Justice Department nominees to be the special master overseeing the review of evidence the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago last month, he told a federal judge Monday.   

  But the Trump team declined to give reasons for opposing the pair — retired federal judges Barbara Jones and Thomas Griffiths — at this time.   

  “Plaintiff objects to the Justice Department’s proposed nominees.  Plaintiff believes there are specific reasons why these candidates should not be preferred for service as a Special Master in this case,” Trump lawyers wrote.   

  The Justice Department appointed Griffith, who served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., from 2005 to 2020, and Jones, a former federal prosecutor who was an expert in several recent high-profile investigations.   

  Trump’s team nominated attorney Paul Huck Jr., a former partner at the Jones Day law firm and a fellow at the conservative legal group the Federalist Society, and retired Judge Raymond Dearie, who has served as a federal judge in New York since 1986, when he was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan.   

  Trump and the Justice Department have also disagreed on other key aspects of the special masters’ powers, including how long a review should take, who is responsible for paying the special master and what kinds of documents are subject to review.   

  The Justice Department has yet to weigh in on Trump’s proposed nominees.   

  Trump’s lawyers argue that the court did not ask for detailed reasoning and are trying to be “more respectful of the candidates than any party.”   

  “Plaintiff also argues that it is more respectful of candidates of either party to withhold the grounds for opposition from a public and likely to be widely circulated, cited,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.  “Accordingly, the Plaintiff requests the Court’s permission to specifically express our objections to the Government’s nominees only at such time as the Court determines a desire to receive and consider such information.”   

  This story has been updated with additional details.