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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Attorneys for the Justice Department and former President Donald Trump are in federal court here Thursday afternoon, arguing over whether a judge should appoint a special master to review materials seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and club last month.
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon signaled over the weekend that she was inclined to appoint the special master, but ordered the government to present its case against appointing one in a filing before the audience
Reporters are present at the hearing, but under court rules are not allowed to send updates while it is underway.
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In a forceful response to Trump’s request late Tuesday, the Justice Department said a special master was not needed and that the FBI’s unprecedented search of a former president’s home was justified. The filing alleged that Trump and his advisers repeatedly failed to turn over highly classified government documents even after receiving a subpoena and promising a “diligent search” had been conducted, leading to the raid of August 8 that found over 100 additional classified articles.
Trump’s team has accused the Justice Department of acting politically in its investigation into the former president’s possible mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House. His legal filings argue that the government seized documents to which it is not entitled and that a neutral outside expert could sift through the material and leave out any that should be shielded from government review because of the privilege.
“Three weeks after an unprecedented, unnecessary and legally unsupported raid on the home of a president, and possibly a candidate against the current chief executive in 2024,” Trump’s legal team wrote in filing Wednesday night, “the government … has filed an extraordinary brief with this Court, suggesting that the DOJ, and the DOJ alone, should be entrusted with the responsibility of evaluating its unjustified pursuit of criminalizing the possession of a former president’s personal and presidential records in a secure environment.
According to experts, the Justice Department is pointing to legal jeopardy for Trump, Bobb and Corcoran
After hearing arguments Thursday afternoon, Cannon could issue a ruling from the bench. He could also rule later, in writing.
The Justice Department has told Cannon that its “filter team” review of the potentially privileged documents is now complete.
Chris Kise, the latest addition to Trump’s legal team and former Florida attorney general, was formally added as the former president’s co-counsel in a filing Thursday morning and joined other lawyers in the courtroom before the audience.
Kise signed a multimillion-dollar contract to join Trump’s team, according to people familiar with the hiring, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive aspects of Trump’s legal case.
Kise, who left the law firm Foley and Lardner to take the job with Trump, said the people. he was assured that he would take a “leading” role in the case.
Josh Dawsey and Ann Marimow contributed to this report.