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Former President Donald Trump
Erin Scott | Reuters
Donald Trump’s lawyers urged a federal appeals court on Tuesday to reject a Justice Department bid to reopen a review of classified documents that were seized from the former president’s Florida home last month as part of a criminal investigation.
The filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit came hours before lawyers for Trump and the Justice Department appeared in federal court in Brooklyn to speak with the special master who was appointed to review the records seized from Mar-a- Lago, the former president’s home in Palm Beach.
That independent third party, U.S. District Judge Raymond Deary, was selected last week by Trump appointee Judge Eileen Cannon to review the materials to identify personal records and information that may be protected by various legal privileges. The Justice Department opposed the appointment of a special master, arguing in part that it was unnecessary.
In authorizing the special master earlier this month, Cannon temporarily barred the Justice Department from reviewing or using the seized material for the investigation.
The Justice Department appealed, asking the 11th Circuit to vacate the portion of Cannon’s order that prohibits the use of government records bearing classification markings and requires the government to disclose those records to the special master.
Cannon’s orders “are a reasonable preliminary step toward restoring order out of chaos, and therefore this court should reject the government’s motion,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing Tuesday in response to the DOJ’s request.
The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago on August 8, looking for material showing violations of the laws against obstruction of justice and the destruction of official documents, as well as the US Espionage Act.
Federal agents seized more than 100 classified documents in that raid, the DOJ later revealed. Court documents also reveal that the FBI found four dozen empty folders marked “CLASSIFIED” during the raid. More than 10,000 unclassified US government documents and photographs were also seized.
Trump and his allies have claimed in interviews and on social media that he declassified all the government records that were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s lawyers did not repeat that claim in court filings Tuesday. Instead, they argued that the DOJ failed to prove the documents were classified and argued that the president “has absolute authority to declassify any information.”
In a footnote, Trump’s lawyers added, “The fact that documents contain classification markings does not necessarily negate claims of privilege.” They pointed to the fact that, according to the probable cause affidavit used to obtain the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, some documents with classified markings also included Trump’s handwritten notes.
“These memos may certainly contain privileged information,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
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