(FreedomBeacon.com)- The Department of Justice announced on Monday through a court filing that they have identified a “limited set” of documents that were retrieved from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate during the FBI raid that could be protected by attorney-client privilege.
The DOJ said they have already reviewed all of the documents that were seized during the raid. They said they’d give more information about it all in a separate court filing.
This court filing, though, was made because the DOJ claims that a privilege review team already went through these documents, so a special master does not need to be appointed to do that same thing.
Trump has requested in federal court that a special master be assigned to the case to review the documents. This independent individual would be appointed by the court and would review all of the documents.
The privilege review team at the DOJ includes federal personnel who aren’t involved with the specific investigation. Their role is to just go through all the documents and see if any need to be returned because they are subject to attorney-client privilege.
According to the DOJ filing:
“[T]he Privilege Review Team … identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information, completed its review of those materials, and is in the process of following the procedures set forth in paragraph 84 of the search warrant affidavit to address potential privilege disputes, if any.”
The procedures include having the court determine whether the material is potentially privilege, as well as asking Trump’s legal team if they are trying to assert privilege over the documents, or whether they are withholding this information from investigators on their own accord.
In addition, DOJ officials said, along with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, they “are currently facilitating a classification review of materials recovered pursuant to the search … ODNI is also leading an intelligence community assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of these materials.”
Last weekend, Aileen Cannon, a judge in the Southern District of Florida, said she had a “preliminary intent to appoint a special master” who would go through all of the documents that the FBI seized during the raid.
Trump’s legal team requested that this independent person be appointed to the case, saying there are “exceptional circumstances” that necessitate it. His team said the decision by the DOJ to conduct their raid only a few months before the midterm elections in November “involved political calculation aimed at diminishing the leading voice in the Republican Party, President Trump.”
Another hearing in this case is scheduled for Thursday at a federal courthouse that’s located in Florida in West Palm Beach. At that hearing, the DOJ has to provide under seal “a more detailed Receipt for Property specifying all property seized pursuant to the search warrant executed on August 8, 2022,” according to Cannon.
Trump is disputing that he violated federal laws and that the records and information that he had with him at Mar-a-Lago have all been declassified.
