Trump Asks Judge To Appoint ‘Special Master’ To Review Seized Mar-A-Lago Records

Topline

Former President Donald Trump asked a federal judge Monday to appoint an independent “special master” to look through documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago home, marking the first formal legal action by Trump’s attorneys since the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago two weeks ago amid a federal investigation into his handling of government records.

Key Facts

In a court filing, Trump’s lawyers argued for a special master—an independent third party who would decide whether some of the items seized by the FBI during the search are private or privileged—instead of letting a “filter team” of Department of Justice attorneys who aren’t part of the Trump investigation pore through the documents, which is a common DOJ practice.

Trump’s attorney Jim Trusty told conservative radio host Mark Levin last week he planned on asking a judge to appoint a special master, but it’s unclear why the former president’s team waited two weeks before filing a motion for one.

The case was assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee.

Monday’s filing also asked Cannon to force the DOJ to return any items that weren’t covered by the search warrant and give a more detailed list of the items seized by the FBI, after a receipt unsealed earlier this month said FBI agents found classified and top secret records at Mar-a-Lago but didn’t specify the exact documents that were taken.

Trump’s legal team argued the Mar-a-Lago search warrant issued by a federal judge earlier this month was “overbroad” according to the Fourth Amendment, and claimed federal agents may have swept up privileged documents and items that fell outside the limits of the search warrant, including the former president’s passports.

The filing also called the search “shockingly aggressive,” insisting Trump’s team had complied with earlier efforts to take back federal documents stored at his home.

Forbes has reached out to the DOJ for comment.

Tangent

Trump’s request for a special master isn’t unusual. After the FBI searched the office of then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen in 2018, retired federal judge Barbara Jones was appointed as a special master and tasked with sifting through documents recovered by agents for an investigation into tax and campaign finance issues. Three years later, Jones was again picked to serve as a special master following an unrelated FBI raid of former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was reportedly investigated for foreign lobbying but hasn’t faced charges.

Key Background

The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago as part of a wider investigation into why troves of sensitive federal documents were brought to the former president’s Florida residence after he left office, instead of remaining in government custody. It followed a months-long dispute between Trump’s team and federal authorities, with the National Archives removing 15 boxes of government documents from Mar-a-Lago in January and the FBI reportedly serving a subpoena for additional federal records in June. The investigation’s status isn’t clear, but the search warrant suggests FBI agents were looking for evidence of crimes involving the concealment, removal or destruction of government records, and the Washington Post reports nuclear weapon-related documents were among the items sought by agents. The search—an unprecedented action against a former president—has turned into a political lightning rod: Trump and his allies have accused the FBI of deliberately targeting him and insisted many of the documents sought by the FBI were actually declassified by Trump, while Attorney General Merrick Garland has defended FBI agents against “unfounded” attacks.

What To Watch For

Federal Judge Bruce Reinhart is weighing whether to unseal a DOJ affidavit explaining why the government wanted a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. Media outlets and conservative groups have asked Reinhart to unseal the document, which could offer more details about the Trump probe, but the DOJ has argued the affidavit’s release could compromise its ongoing criminal investigation. Reinhart suggested last week he’s leaning toward releasing parts of the affidavit, though he asked the DOJ to propose redactions. Trump has stated publicly that he wants the affidavit to be released but hasn’t formally petitioned the court to unseal it.