Special Master Wants Trump Team to Explain Some Things

Lawyers have until end of September to back up implications of planted evidence
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 23, 2022 12:22 AM CDT
Special Master Wants Trump Team to Explain Some Things
An aerial view of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 31, 2022.   (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

On multiple occasions, Donald Trump has suggested that FBI agents planted evidence during the August raid at his Mar-a-Lago residence. Now, the special master appointed in the case at the Trump team's request is asking for evidence supporting that accusation. Senior US District Judge Raymond J. Dearie, the independent arbiter assigned by the judge in the Mar-a-Lago case to review the documents seized by the agents at Trump's Florida estate, gave the Trump team until Sept. 30 to produce proof of that claim, NBC News reports.

In the Thursday filing, Dearie ordered the government to give the Trump team copies of all non-classified items that were seized at Mar-a-Lago by Monday. (USA Today has a detailed rundown of the timeline laid out by Dearie.) The Trump team then has until Friday of next week to declare any items in the inventory that "Plaintiff asserts were not seized from the Premises" (essentially, whatever Trump is suggesting was planted). The Trump team also has until then to declare items that agents seized, but which were not listed in the inventory.

"This submission shall be Plaintiff’s final opportunity to raise any factual dispute as to the completeness and accuracy of the Detailed Property Inventory," Dearie wrote in the filing. Axios and the Washington Post point out that Dearie is asking the Trump team to specifically state in their court filing whether they believe FBI agents lied or planted documents, which the Post calls a "strikingly different approach" than the one taken by the actual judge in the case, who has never asked Trump's lawyers to back up these implications. (More Donald Trump stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X