The appeals court filing comes a day after U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon appointed another federal judge, Raymond J. Dearie, to serve as a special master and review the nearly 11,000 documents seized in the FBI’s investigation of August 8. The new filing from the Justice Department notes that it disagrees with that decision, but for now is asking the appeals court to intervene on two parts of Cannon’s ruling — one prohibiting criminals from using the material seized while the special master does the His work. and another that allows the special master to review the approximately 100 classified documents seized as well as unclassified material. The government filing seeks to suspend “only those portions of the order that cause the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public,” calling the scope of their request “modest but extremely significant.” It’s unclear how long the special master review or appeals might take, but the new filing asks the appeals court to rule on their request for a stay “as soon as possible.” Cannon ordered Dearie to complete his review by Nov. 30. He said he would have to prioritize the classification of classified documents, although he did not provide a timetable for when that part should be completed. The Justice Department had asked a previous court to complete the review by October 17. And Trump’s lawyers had said a special master would take 90 days to complete the review. Dearie, 78, was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan (R) after serving as U.S. attorney. Fellow lawyers and colleagues in Brooklyn federal court describe him as an exemplary jurist well-suited to the special master’s job, having previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees sensitive national security cases. The appeals court filing also argues that the case for Cannon’s order itself, as it relates to the classified material, is meaningless because classified documents are by definition the property of the government, not a former president or a private club. Trump “has no claim to the return of these records, which belong to the government and were seized in a court-authorized search. The records are not subject to any potential claim of personal attorney-client privilege,” prosecutors wrote, adding that Trump cited no legal authority “suggesting that a former President could successfully invoke executive privilege to block Executive Department to examine its own records. “ The Justice Department argues that Cannon’s directive to Secret Service officials to continue their risk assessment of the Mar-a-Lago case while criminal investigators could not use the same material in their work is too impractical because the two tasks are “inextricably intertwined”. That order “precludes that investigation and puts the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) under a Damoclesian threat of contempt if a court later disagrees with how investigators analyze their past integrated criminal-investigative and national intelligence activities.” security,” the filing claims. “It also irreparably harms the government by ordering critical steps in an ongoing criminal investigation and unnecessarily forcing disclosure of highly sensitive records, including those of Trump’s lawyers. Prosecutors also said the judge’s restriction on further investigation prevents them from determining whether other classified documents remain to be found — a possible ongoing national security risk — and the appeals filing says it also makes it difficult for the FBI to determine whether anyone had access to the documents they discovered. . “The court’s order restricts the FBI from using the seized records in its criminal-investigative tools to assess what, if any, records were actually disclosed, to whom and under what circumstances,” the new filing states. Such arguments do not sway Cannon, who has repeatedly expressed skepticism about the Justice Department’s claims, including whether the roughly 100 documents at the heart of the case were classified. In her ruling Thursday, she rejected the argument that her decision would seriously harm the national security investigation. Proper application of legal rules “does not require unquestioning reliance on the decisions of the Department of Justice,” the judge wrote. Cannon, a Trump appointee who was confirmed by the Senate just days after Trump lost his bid for re-election, added that she still “firmly” believes that the appointment of a special master and a temporary injunction against the Justice Department using the documents , is in keeping with “the need to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under unprecedented circumstances.” The Justice Department is investigating Trump and his advisers for possible mishandling of classified information, as well as hiding or destroying government records — a saga that began last year when the National Archives and Records Administration became concerned that some items and documents that were presidential records. and therefore government property, was instead in Trump’s possession at his club in Florida. After months of discussions, Trump aides turned over about 15 boxes of material to the archives, and a review of those boxes turned up 184 marked documents, including some that were top secret. After the FBI and Justice Department opened a criminal investigation, a subpoena was issued in May demanding the return of all documents marked classified. In response, a Trump lawyer turned over 38 additional classified documents and another Trump aide signed a document claiming they had conducted a diligent search for any remaining sensitive documents, prosecutors said. “The FBI uncovered evidence that the response to the grand jury subpoena was incomplete, that classified documents likely remained at Mar-a-Lago, and that efforts were likely made to obstruct the investigation,” the filing states, describing the decision to seek subpoena. warrant to search Mar-a-Lago. That search, officials said, turned up about 100 more classified documents, including some that were at the highest level of classification. Two weeks after that search, Trump’s lawyers filed court papers asking for a special master to be appointed to review the seized material and set aside any documents covered by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. Executive privilege is a loosely defined legal concept meant to ensure the privacy of presidential communications from other branches of government, but in this case Trump’s legal team suggested the former president could invoke it against the current executive branch. The government’s appeals argument also seeks to shoot down the suggestion that Trump may have declassified the material while he was president, noting that his legal team never claimed he did so at any point during the long months of negotiations to return it. of the documents, and since then the raid has only indicated that he may have had them or could have declassified them. By buying into that rationale, Judge Cannon “erred in granting emergency relief based on unfounded possibilities,” Justice Department lawyers wrote. Judge Appoints Fellow Judge Dearie as Special Master in Trump Mar-a-Lago Case
