Former President Donald Trump
Erin Scott | Reuters
Attorney for Donald Trump On Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to reject an attempt by the Justice Department to continue reviewing documents marked as top secret that were seized from the former president’s Florida home last month such as: part of a criminal investigation.
The filing with the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit comes hours before attorneys for Trump and the DOJ are set to appear in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, to speak with the special employer. , who was appointed to examine records seized since March. -a-Lago, the former president’s Palm Beach vacation home.
That independent third party, US District Judge Raymond Dearie, was selected last week by Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon to review the documents to determine records and personal information that could be protected protected by various legal privileges. The DOJ objected to the appointment of a special master, arguing in part that it was unnecessary.
Dearie called attorneys for Trump and the DOJ to Brooklyn federal court at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday for a preliminary meeting. Trump’s lawyers in a filing Monday night told Dearie that they did not want to reveal to him what documents may have been declassified by the former president.
In authorizing the special owner earlier this month, Cannon temporarily prevented the DOJ from reviewing or using seized material for investigation.
The DOJ appealed, asking Organization 11 to partially lift Cannon’s order banning the use of classified government records and requiring the government to disclose those records to special owners.
Cannon’s orders “are a reasonable preliminary step to restore order from chaos and therefore this Court should reject the Government’s Motion,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing. Tuesday in response to the DOJ’s request.
The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago on August 8, looking for documents that showed violations of anti-obstruction laws and the removal of official records, as well as the US Espionage Act.
Federal agents arrested more than 100 documents with the markings classified in that raid, the DOJ later revealed. Court documents also reveal that the FBI found four dozen empty folder marked “CATEGORDATE” during the raid. More than 10,000 unclassified US government documents and photos were also seized.
Trump and his allies have argued in interviews and on social media that he has declassified all government records obtained from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s lawyers did not repeat that claim in court filings Tuesday. Instead, they argued that the DOJ had failed to prove that the documents were classified, and asserted that a president “has absolute authority to declassify any information.”
In a footnote, Trump’s lawyers added, “The fact that the documents have the taxonomic markup does not necessarily negate the claims of privilege.” They point to the fact that, according to the cause affidavit that could be used to obtain a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, some of the documents with the classification mark also included Trump’s handwritten notes.
“Those notes could certainly contain privileged information,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
