The Department of Justice reacted to judicial intent to appoint a special master to decide which seized Trump documents they may review. Justice Department lawyers told Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida that appointing a special master would harm national security.
Then, they included photos showing dozens of highly classified documents displayed against a vibrant rug in a Mar-a-Lago office. The photo raises a question about just how secret they truly are when just knowing a document title makes searching for it easier.
In its response to Judge Cannon, the DOJ further claimed the 45th president lacks a legal basis to sue because it claims the records belong to the National Archives. Then, it told Cannon her court lacks jurisdiction to decide the matter, even if Justice lawyers are wrong about Trump’s legal standing.
Finally, DOJ verbally shrugged its shoulders, informing the judge it already sorted through all of the material seized from the former president’s Florida home.
The Daily Mail further reported:
The photographs were released in a 36-page court filing where officials said they’d uncovered a plot to obstruct the probe into the discovery of government records.
The DOJ accused the ex-president’s team of moving around and hiding classified documents they had previously searched for.
Officials claimed they were ‘likely concealed and removed’ from a padlocked storage room where Trump’s lawyers had said they were all kept together.
The new court filing also shot down attempts to get a ‘special master’ – a third party – to review the documents seized by the FBI, branding the move ‘unnecessary’ and saying it would ‘harm national security interests’.
The FBI seized 33 boxes with over 100 classified records during its raid – and found classified documents stashed in Trump’s office, according to the filing.
The DOJ accused the ex-president’s team of moving around and hiding classified documents they had previously searched for.
Officials claimed they were ‘likely concealed and removed’ from a padlocked storage room where Trump’s lawyers had said they were all kept together.
The new court filing also shot down attempts to get a ‘special master’ – a third party – to review the documents seized by the FBI, branding the move ‘unnecessary’ and saying it would ‘harm national security interests’.
The FBI seized 33 boxes with over 100 classified records during its raid – and found classified documents stashed in Trump’s office, according to the filing.
The filing, released late Tuesday, lays out the most detailed chronology of months of strained interactions between the DOJ and the ex-president’s team.
It offers another indication of the sheer volume of classified records retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.
It shows how investigators conducting a criminal probe have focused not just on why the records were stored there, but also on whether the Trump team intentionally misled them about the continued, and unlawful, presence of the top secret documents.
DOJ lawyers did not explain why it seized the framed Time magazine cover under the guise of investigating breaches of national security.
