On Monday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon Federal judge granted former President Donald Trump’s legal team’s request to appoint a special-master to review documents seized by the FBI. Last month’s raid on Trump’s Florida home Mar-a-Lago allegedly netted the FBI boxes of classified and unclassified records.
The decision by the Federal judge came despite objections from the Justice Department. The DOJ claimed an outside legal expert was not necessary because officials had already completed their review of potentially privileged documents. And the Trump team says that the DOJ has leaked a photo of classified documents they spread on the floor to the media (see below).
The judge had previously said she was inclined to approve a special-master. And asked the Justice Department attorney, “What is the harm?” during arguments.
Judge Cannon asked for clarification from Trump’s legal team of why the special-master request had come to her. And not to the magistrate judge Bruce E. Reinhart who approved the initial search.
