Donald Trump scored a legal victory as a federal judge on Monday granted the former President's request for a special master to review documents that were seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from his Florida residence.
The decision came from Trump-appointed District Judge Aileen Cannon. It is a significant win for Trump, who has railed against the Joe Biden administration and the Department of Justice (DOJ) since the search was executed four weeks ago, reported CNN. According to Al Jazeera, the judge’s order is likely to delay the criminal investigation into the former President's possible mishandling of classified documents.
Cannon wrote that as a function of Plaintiff's former position as President of America, the "stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own." She noted that a future indictment, based to any degree on property that ought to be returned, "would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude." The judge ordered that a third-party lawyer, from outside the US government, be brought in to review the documents that were taken from Mar-a-Lago. They have time until Friday to nominate special master candidates and their specific duties.
The order also halts the DOJ from continuing its review of the materials that were seized last month "pending completion of the special master's review or further Court order." However, the classification review and intelligence assessments that are being done by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will be allowed to continue.
Trump's legal team had argued that a special master was required as they don't trust the DOJ to fairly identify privileged materials that would need to be excluded from the ongoing criminal investigation.
Last weekend, Trump slammed the Justice Department and the seizure at his rally in Pennsylvania. He said that this "egregious abuse of the law is going to produce a backlash the likes of which nobody has ever seen before." He added that the same exact people at Justice Department and the FBI along with "outside scum, are at it again with the horrific raid of my home. They just go on and on and they have to be stopped."
Cannon also wrote that the former President had not proven that his constitutional rights were disregarded, but the judge cited several reasons for bringing in the special master. Among them is "the interest in ensuring the integrity of an orderly process amidst swirling allegations of bias and media leaks."
She said that the special master will be tasked with reviewing "seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege."
According to the AP News, the order came despite objections from the DOJ. It said that a special master was not needed in part as officials had already completed their review of potentially privileged documents. The DOJ said Monday that it was reviewing the decision, but did not suggest if and when it might appeal.
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