Appeals panel questions whether Trump seeks special treatment for Mar-a-Lago documents
the seizure of 11,000 documents at his estate Mar-a-Lago.
In U.S. District Court, Trump’s lawyers had won approval of a special master to review the records and potentially prevent their use in a criminal case. Trump’s lawyers argued investigators should be blocked from using personal records or those falling under attorney-client or executive privilege.
But Justice Department lawyers argued the special master was unwarranted and appealed to overturn U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order appointing the special master.
Members of a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked Tuesday whether Trump sought special treatment as a former president. Trump hasn’t challenged the legality of the search warrant, so judges said his chance to challenge the seizure of his records is after potential charges are filed.
“We’ve got to be concerned about the precedent that we would create that would allow any target of a federal criminal investigation to go into a District Court and to have a District Court entertain this type of petition, exercise equitable jurisdiction and interfere with the executive branch’s ongoing investigation,” Chief Judge William Pryor said.
James Trusty, one of Trump’s lawyers, said he understood the concern.
“We don’t want to open up floodgates,” Trusty said.
Judge Britt Grant asked whether Trump sought special treatment.
“If you do set aside that the target of the search warrant was a former president, are there any arguments that would be different than any defendant or any other target of a warrant who wished to challenge a warrant before an indictment?” Grant asked.
Trusty denied seeking special treatment, but called the case extraordinary.
“This is a situation where a political rival has been subjected to a search warrant where thousands of personal items have been taken,” Trusty said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith on Friday to oversee the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his unauthorized transfer of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House. Smith approved of the arguments federal prosecutors will make at the appeals hearing.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that he would suffer irreparable harm if the special master, U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, doesn’t review the documents for personal records or for falling under executive privilege. But government lawyers said he hasn’t described the harm in court.
100 classified documents found during the search for Dearie’s review. Trump appealed, but the Supreme Court refused to intervene.
FBI agents seized the documents as part of a criminal investigation for evidence of violations of the Espionage Act or obstruction of justice. Dearie is scheduled to complete his review by Dec. 16.