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A US judge on Thursday refused to let the Justice Department immediately resume reviewing classified records the FBI seized from Donald Trump’s Florida estate in an ongoing criminal investigation, siding with the former president.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon also granted the newly named special master, Raymond Dearie, access to the entire tranche of documents seized from the property, although the department had said the judge should not be allowed to inspect the batch of classified records.
The Justice Department had promised to take the case to an appeals court if Cannon refused their request. They had also tried to block the independent arbitrator, Dearie, from examining the roughly 100 classified documents included among the 11,000 records collected in the court-authorized search on August 8, including some marked “top secret.”
“The court does not find it appropriate to accept the government’s findings on these important and contentious issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly manner,” Cannon wrote Thursday.
A spokesman for the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers did not immediately return requests for comment.
The Justice Department ordered a pause in the Trump investigation
The selection of Dearie, a former federal prosecutor who for years served as chief judge of the federal court based in Brooklyn, N.Y., came after both the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers made it clear they would be satisfied with his appointment as so-called special master.
SEE | Judge grants Trump’s request for expert to review seized documents:
A federal judge granted a request by former US President Donald Trump for a special master to review documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home.
In that role, Dearie will be responsible for reviewing the documents taken during the search of Mar-a-Lago and singling out any that might be subject to claims of privilege. It’s not clear how long the work will take, but the special masters process has already delayed the investigation, with Cannon instructing the Justice Department to temporarily pause core aspects of its investigation.
The Justice Department argued Deary’s appointment was unnecessary, saying it had already conducted its own review and that Trump did not have the right to raise claims of executive privilege that normally allows the president to withhold certain information from the public and Congress.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, said Thursday that she would instruct Dearie to prioritize reviewing the classified records first. She also asked him to complete his review of all the seized materials by November 30.
The Justice Department is investigating the hoarding of top-secret material and other classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after he left office in January 2021.
The department is also looking into possible obstruction of the probe after it found evidence that records may have been removed or hidden from the FBI when it sent agents to Mar-a-Lago in June to try to recover all classified documents through a grand jury subpoena.
Ongoing investigations
Cannon, a Trump appointee, disagreed and directed both sides to nominate potential candidates for the role. She also ordered the Justice Department to halt its review of the documents for investigative purposes until “further court order” or until the special master completes their review.
The Trump team recommended either Dearie or a Florida attorney for the job. The Justice Department said that in addition to the two retired judges whose names it submitted, it would also be happy with a Dearie appointment.
Dearie served as the chief federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York from 1982 to 1986, after which he was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Ronald Reagan. He has also served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes the Justice Department’s wiretap applications in investigations involving suspected agents of a foreign power.
He took senior status in 2011, but the Justice Department has said he remains active and had indicated to officials that he was available for the position and could work quickly if appointed to it.
The document probe is one of several federal and state probes Trump faces as he considers another run for the presidency in 2024.
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