The judge also denied the DOJ’s motion for a partial stay to allow the DOJ to continue to access the documents. “The Court remains firmly of the view that the appointment of a special master to conduct a review of the seized materials, accompanied by a temporary injunction to prevent the improper use and disclosure of potentially privileged and/or personal materials, is fully consistent with the aforementioned principles and the need to to ensure at least the appearance of justice and integrity under unprecedented circumstances,” wrote Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Trump. Last month, Trump’s team asked that an independent third party review the 11,000 seized documents to determine whether any were protected by executive or attorney-client privilege when they were removed in the Aug. 8 search. The Justice Department opposed the request, but when Judge Cannon ruled in favor of a special master, he agreed with Trump’s choice, Diery, as the appropriate choice. Judge Dearie is a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York and served as the court’s chief judge from 2007 to 2011. He was appointed a judge by Ronald Reagan in 1986. He previously approved a warrant for the FBI to monitor former Trump campaign aide Carter Page during the Russia investigation, although he is considered to have an excellent reputation and is well respected by Trump and his team. Cannon gave the special master a Nov. 30 deadline to complete his review of the potentially privileged documents, which is more than a month after the DOJ requested an Oct. 17 deadline. The Justice Department has said it will appeal, which could take the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and all the way to the US Supreme Court. In her ruling, Judge Cannon disagrees with the DOJ’s claims that the records it is seeking to review — specifically, 100 documents “marked as classified” — contain such sensitive information and is requesting further review by the special master. Cannon rejected the Justice Department’s request to exempt the 100 documents from review and lift restrictions on the DOJ’s use of classified materials seized during the investigation to advance its criminal investigation into the handling of sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago. He said he would not accept the Justice Department’s notification that the documents remain classified as facts without a review by the special master. “First, there has been no genuine suggestion by the government of any cognizable emergency or imminent disclosure of classified information arising from Plaintiff’s alleged unlawful retention of the seized property,” Cannon wrote. Trump has publicly stated that he declassified all records prior to the FBI investigation. “The Court does not see fit to accept the government’s conclusions on these important and contested issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expeditious and orderly manner,” Cannon writes, noting “there are documented cases that raise concerns about the government’s ability to categorize and display materials correctly”. Although Cannon asked the special master to “prioritize the review of the approximately 100 documents marked as classified (and the documents physically attached to them) and then consider immediate adjustments to the Court’s Orders as necessary. Cannon also ordered Trump to pay the full cost of the retrial, despite his lawyer’s plea to split the bill. Dearie has already accepted the role in a signed deposition. This is a spastic story and will be updated.
