Topline
Attorneys for former President Donald Trump told a judge Monday they don’t support assigning either of the two jurists suggested by the Department of Justice to pore through documents seized from Mar-A-Lago, but Trump’s team didn’t explain their concerns out of a desire to be “respectful.”
Former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is seen on April 3, 2019 in West Palm Beach, … [+]
Key Facts
In a filing, Trump’s legal team said “there are specific reasons why [the DOJ’s] nominees are not preferred for service” as a special master, or an independent court-appointed arbiter who can review whether any of the seized Mar-A-Lago records are privileged.
However, the former president asked a federal judge for permission to explain why they’re opposed to the DOJ’s candidates “in camera,” or during a private meeting with the judge, arguing “it is more respectful to the candidates from either party to withhold the bases for opposition from a public, and likely to be widely circulated, pleading.”
The DOJ and Trump each suggested two possible special master candidates in a Friday filing: The government’s attorneys proposed two retired federal judges, while Trump offered up a retired judge and a conservative attorney.
Surprising Fact
At least two of the four special master candidates have handled cases in Trump’s orbit in the past. Retired Judge Barbara Jones, one of the DOJ’s picks, served as special master after FBI agents searched the offices of Trump’s former attorneys Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani in a pair of separate criminal investigations. And retired Judge Raymond Dearie, whom Trump suggested as a special master, signed one of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrants that was used in 2017 to wiretap ex-Trump associate Carter Page—a move criticized by Trump’s allies as well as the DOJ’s internal watchdog.
Key Background
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon—a Trump appointee—granted the former president’s request for a special master last week, ordering the DOJ to stop reviewing scores of government documents retrieved from Mar-A-Lago until a special master can figure out whether any of them are protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. The DOJ says the documents—some of which are classified—are part of an investigation into possible violations of recordkeeping laws and obstruction, and alleged Trump’s team “likely concealed” the records at Mar-A-Lago despite being asked to return them. Federal prosecutors warned a special master would cause unnecessary delays in this probe: They noted that DOJ lawyers have already separated out attorney-client privileged records and argued executive privilege shouldn’t apply. However, Trump’s attorneys accused the DOJ of overreach by choosing to search a former president’s home in what they described as a minor dispute over federal records, and said a special master would help “restor[e]
order from chaos.”
Tangent
In addition to disagreeing over the candidates for the special master job, Trump and the DOJ also have differing opinions on the review’s scope. The DOJ wants the special master to wrap up their work by mid-October and avoid screening documents for executive privilege, while Trump’s team wants a broader review that could take 90 days. And Trump suggested splitting the cost of hiring a special master, but the DOJ says he should pick up the entire bill.
What To Watch For
It’s up to Cannon to choose a special master in the Mar-A-Lago case. Last week, the DOJ asked Cannon to exclude classified documents from the special master’s review and let prosecutors continue reviewing the records while the special master gets to work. If Cannon doesn’t accede to the DOJ’s requests by Thursday, the government plans to appeal.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/09/12/trump-objects-to-dojs-special-master-picks-but-wants-to-explain-why-privately/