Former President Donald Trump, center, stands on the golf course with others at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Donald Trump’s lawyers dismissed as a “storage dispute” the former president’s keeping of top-secret documents at his Florida home, urging a judge on Monday to uphold an order that temporarily halted key aspects of the Justice Department’s criminal investigation. Setting the stage for possible further delays in the investigation, the Trump team also said it opposes the Justice Department’s nominees for an independent arbitrator tasked with reviewing documents seized during the FBI’s Aug. 8 probe of Mar. -a- Lago. In a 21-page filing, Trump’s lawyers referred to the seized documents as “allegedly ‘classified records,’” suggesting that his lawyers do not accept the Justice Department’s contention that highly sensitive, top-secret information was found by the FBI in the previous search month. The lawyers argued that there is no evidence that any of the files were leaked to anyone and said that at least some of the documents belong to Trump himself and not the Justice Department. The filing highlights significant factual and legal disputes between Trump’s lawyers and the US government as the Justice Department tries to move forward with its criminal investigation into the illegal retention of national defense information at Mar-a-Lago and the possible obstruction his. catheter. “This investigation of the 45th President of the United States is both unprecedented and misguided,” they wrote. “In what is at its core a document storage controversy that has spiraled out of control, the government is unfairly seeking to criminalize the 45th President’s possession of his own presidential and personal records.” The investigation hit a roadblock last week when U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted the Trump team’s request to appoint an independent arbitrator, also known as a special master, to review the seized records and temporarily barred the department from examine the documents for investigation. purposes. The Justice Department asked the judge to lift that hold and said it would challenge her decision in a federal appeals court. The department said its research risked being irreparably harmed if that order remained in place, noting that confusion over its scope and meaning had already led the intelligence community to halt a separate risk assessment it was conducting. But Trump’s lawyers said on their own motion Monday that Cannon should not allow the FBI to continue reviewing classified records. “By responding to any neutral review of the seized materials, the government seeks to block a reasonable first step toward restoring order out of chaos and increasing public confidence in the integrity of the process,” the lawyers wrote. Meanwhile, both sides on Friday night put forward different names of candidates who could serve in a special master’s role, although they disagreed on the exact scope of the person’s duties. Cannon said the yet-to-be-named arbitrator will be tasked with reviewing the documents and eliminating from the investigation anything that could be covered by claims of either executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. The Justice Department recommended either Barbara Jones, a retired Manhattan judge who has served as a special master in previous high-profile investigations, or Thomas Griffith, a retired federal appeals court lawyer in the District of Columbia who was appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush. The department said in its proposal that the special master should not have access to classified documents or be authorized to review claims of executive privilege. On Monday, the Trump team told the judge it objected to both of those candidates, but said it was unwilling to say why publicly at this time. Trump’s lawyers have nominated either Raymond Dearie, a retired federal court judge based in Brooklyn, or prominent Florida attorney Paul Huck, Jr. claims. In its Monday filing, the Trump team again expressed a broad view of presidential power, arguing that a president has “unfettered access” to his presidential records and absolute authority to declassify any information without “the approval of bureaucratic elements of the executive branch.” ». branch,” though he did not say, as Trump claimed, that he had actually declassified them. The Justice Department said Trump, as a former commander in chief, did not have the right to withhold the presidential documents. And the criminal laws the department used as the basis of its investigation, including one criminalizing the willful retention of national defense information, do not actually require records to be classified. In any case, the Justice Department says more than 100 classified documents were found in last month’s search. He released a photo taken by agents inside Mar-a-Lago that shows folders of files marked classified. The order from Cannon, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump two years ago, was easily the most consistent in her short judicial career and raised her public profile. Earlier this month, a Houston woman was arrested on allegations she made threats against Cannon as the judge considered the special question-in-chief. Tiffani Shea Gish left a series of threatening, profanity-laced voicemails for Cannon, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Texas. Last week, a judge ordered that Gies be held in jail pending trial. A sentencing hearing for Gish was scheduled for Tuesday. A federal public defender listed for her did not immediately return a message seeking comment Monday. Trump, who often spends time at his various properties, was at the golf club in Virginia on Monday.
