Judge Gives Trump a Deadline Regarding Special Master Request

His legal team must refine its argument by Friday
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 23, 2022 12:29 AM CDT
Updated Aug 24, 2022 1:47 AM CDT
Trump Wants Special Master to Review Mar-a-Lago Documents
An aerial view of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is seen, Aug. 10, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla.   (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Update: Donald Trump has until Friday to elaborate as to why exactly he needs a special master appointed in the matter of the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid. A federal judge in Florida gave the former POTUS' legal team that deadline for refining their legal arguments, including what exactly Trump wants, why they think the court is entitled to step in, and whether the Justice Department has been served with the special master motion, CNN reports. The network notes that "eyebrows were raised" at how long Trump took following the raid to request a special master, though it's "not outside the legal norm" for him to do so. Our original story from Tuesday follows:

Lawyers for former President Trump asked a federal judge Monday to halt the FBI's review of documents recovered from his Florida estate earlier this month until a neutral special master can be appointed to inspect the records, the AP reports. The request was included in a federal lawsuit, the first filing by Trump's legal team in the two weeks since the search, that takes broad aim at the FBI investigation into the discovery of classified records at Mar-a-Lago and that foreshadows arguments his lawyers are expected to make as the probe proceeds.

The lawsuit casts the Aug. 8 search, in which the FBI said it recovered 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, as a “shockingly aggressive move." It also attacks the warrant as overly broad, contends that Trump is entitled to a more detailed description of the records seized from the home and argues that the FBI and Justice Department has long treated him “unfairly.” "Law enforcement is a shield that protects America. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes," the lawyers wrote Monday. “Therefore, we seek judicial assistance in the aftermath of an unprecedented and unnecessary raid” at Mar-a-Lago.

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In a separate statement, Trump said “ALL documents have been previously declassified”—though he has not produced evidence to support that claim—and described the records as having been “illegally seized from my home." The Justice Department countered in a terse three-sentence statement pointing out that the search had been authorized by a federal judge after the FBI presented probable cause that a crime had been committed. The filing requests the appointment of a special master not connected the case who would be tasked with inspecting the records recovered from Mar-a-Lago and setting aside those that are covered by executive privilege—a principle that permits presidents to withhold certain communications from public disclosure. (See the full story here.)

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