Judge Grants Trump Motion for Special Master to Review Records FBI Seized

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A U.S. judge on Sept. 5 agreed to insert a special master into the review process for records seized from former President Donald Trumpโ€™s home.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, ordered the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for items and documents that may be covered by attorney-client and/or executive privilege.

โ€œIn addition to being deprived of potentially significant personal documents, which alone creates a real harm, Plaintiff faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public,โ€ Cannon wrote in her 24-page order, released several days after a hearing in which she heard arguments from Trumpโ€™s lawyers and attorneys for the government.

โ€œFurther, Plaintiff is at risk of suffering injury from the Governmentโ€™s retention and potential use of privileged materials in the course of a process that, thus far, has been closed off to Plaintiff and that has raised at least some concerns as to its efficacy, even if inadvertently so,โ€ she added.

A special master is an independent third party who assists with sensitive cases.

Cannon did not yet name a specific person to be the special master.

FBI agents seized records, notes, and other items from Trumpโ€™s resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 8.

Cannon said she was swayed to side with Trump in part because the U.S. governmentโ€™s filter team, which was supposed to identify all potentially privileged items, failed to do so.

โ€œThose instances alone, even if entirely inadvertent, yield questions about the adequacy of the filter review process,โ€ the judge said.

cannon-order

Executive Privilege

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) officials have maintained that Trump cannot legitimately exert executive privilege claims because he is no longer in office, pointing to a determination by the acting U.S. archivist, but Cannon said she didnโ€™t necessarily agree.

By Zachary Stieber

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