Judge orders review of documents taken from Trump’s home
An independent expert will have to be appointed to review the documents seized in early August by the FBI from the Florida home of the former US president.
(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 3, 2022, former US President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally to support local candidates in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. – A US judge on September 5, 2022, granted Donald Trump’s request for the appointment of a “special master” to independently review material seized in an FBI raid on his Florida home, dealing a blow to prosecutors. (Photo by SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
AFP
Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday ordered the appointment of an independent expert to examine documents seized by the FBI in early August from Donald Trump’s home. She acceded to the request of the former American president by this decision which temporarily prohibits the investigators from examining the documents seized in the residence of Mar-a-Lago.
Investigators can, however, continue to review the documents “for the purposes of classification and national security assessments”, according to the decision of the federal magistrate.
Setback for the Ministry of Justice
This represents a victory for the Republican and a serious setback for the Justice Department, which had opposed the appointment of an independent third party, saying it could block investigators’ access to documents “and would bear serious harm to government interests, including national security”.
Appointed by Donald Trump himself in 2020, Judge Cannon writes in her decision that the appointment of the independent supervisor will be made “without delay”, asking the parties to come up with a list of potential names for a hearing scheduled for Friday.
On August 8, the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s residence in Florida, seizing boxes of confidential documents that the Republican had not returned after leaving the White House, despite multiple requests.
Since this spectacular and unprecedented police operation for a former American head of state, Donald Trump has stormed against an act which he considers “illegal and unconstitutional” and repeats having been targeted for political reasons.
Trump suspected of breaking the law
In January, the former president’s teams handed over 15 boxes of documents he had taken when he left the White House to the national archives agency, responsible for recording presidential activities for history.
It was after examining these boxes that the FBI, convinced that Donald Trump was keeping other classified documents in Florida, under potentially inappropriate conditions, decided to search, seizing on this occasion around thirty other boxes of documents.
“They took documents protected” by confidentiality between client and lawyer, Donald Trump said.
Investigators suspect the Republican of having violated an American law on espionage which very strictly regulates the possession of confidential documents. Donald Trump assured that these documents had been declassified.
Documents lost or destroyed?
Among the texts seized during the police operation are 18 documents classified as “top secret”, 53 “secret” and 31 “confidential”. Among them, papers that were recovered from Donald Trump’s personal office.
Officers also found several dozen empty folders marked “classified” in the office, which may suggest sensitive documents may have been lost or destroyed.
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