Topline
The special master appointed to review White House documents seized at Mar-A-Lago asked former President Donald Trump’s attorneys Thursday to detail any documents the Justice Department may have falsely claimed to have retrieved there, requiring Trump to back up claims he’s repeatedly made on social media that the FBI “planted” evidence in a court of law.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on September 3.
Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, the third-party special master appointed to filter out any privileged materials from what was seized from Mar-A-Lago, issued an order Thursday laying out a timeline for reviewing the more than 11,000 seized materials, which a judge has ordered should be completed by November 30.
Dearie asked Trump’s attorneys to submit by September 26 a report of any issues they have with the DOJ’s detailed inventory of materials seized at Mar-A-Lago, including any “specific items” that the DOJ lists were taken from Mar-A-Lago but “that Plaintiff asserts were not seized from the Premises.”
That request comes after Trump has repeatedly claimed on social media and in interviews that the federal government planted documents at Mar-A-Lago that weren’t actually being stored there when the Florida estate was searched in August.
Trump has never offered any details of what he claims investigators planted during the search or made that allegation in court, and when asked Wednesday on Fox News whether security video from Mar-A-Lago would back up Trump’s claims, Trump told host Sean Hannity, “No, I don’t think so, they’re in a room.”
Dearie also asked Trump’s attorneys to detail any documents that were listed incorrectly on the government’s inventory or that investigators seized but the DOJ didn’t list.
What To Watch For
Dearie’s order Thursday proposes a quick timeline for the seized documents to be reviewed, dictating that the government and Trump’s attorneys should finish going through all the documents, identifying which ones may be covered by attorney-client or executive privilege and submitting which documents they have disputes over to Dearie by October 21. No classified documents are set to be included in the review after an appeals court ruled Wednesday that the DOJ can hang on to classified materials and not turn them over to Dearie. That means the government will be able to continue its investigation into the seized documents even while Dearie’s review is ongoing, though they still won’t be able to use any non-classified documents as part of their probe.
Tangent
The special master said Thursday he’ll also be enlisting help from retired U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein for his review. While Dearie won’t charge any fees to review the documents, as he’s still actively serving as a judge, the retired Orenstein will bill Trump’s legal team $500 per hour, as the ex-president has been ordered to pay for the review. If Trump, who has a history of not paying people for services rendered, does not make “timely payment,” that will be considered a violation of the special master’s order and could result in sanctions, Dearie noted.
Key Background
Dearie was named as the special master last week after District Judge Aileen Cannon sided with Trump’s request to appoint a special master to go through the Mar-A-Lago documents, despite the DOJ protesting that the review would hinder its investigation into whether Trump keeping those documents violated federal law. The dispute over allegedly planted evidence marks the second time that Trump’s legal team has been asked to prove his social media claims in court, as Dearie has also asked Trump’s attorneys to answer whether Trump declassified any of the documents he brought back to Mar-A-Lago, as he claims to have done. Trump’s attorneys have argued in court that the DOJ shouldn’t be able to hang on to documents labeled classified because Trump may have declassified them. They’ve refused to say if he actually did, however, claiming that doing so could harm their defense later if Trump’s indicted. The special master has so far been unpersuaded by that argument, telling Trump’s counsel during a hearing Tuesday that they “can’t have their cake and eat it” by making the declassification argument but refusing to back it up.
Further Reading
Trump is baselessly suggesting that the F.B.I. may have planted evidence during its search. (New York Times)
Trump Mar-A-Lago Investigation: DOJ Can Use Classified Documents, Court Rules (Forbes)
Mar-A-Lago Case: Special Master Skeptical Of Trump Attorneys’ Declassification Claims (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/09/22/special-master-demands-trump-prove-claims-fbi-planted-evidence-at-mar-a-lago/