A magistrate judge on Tuesday unsealed some previously redacted evidence connected to the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s club, while the Justice Department criticised efforts by Trump’s attorneys to postpone its examination of sensitive documents found at his Florida resort.
Until a special master has had a chance to check the evidence recovered in the August search for attorney-client and executive privilege violations, Cannon issued an order temporarily stopping certain aspects of the criminal inquiry this month. The administration asserted that the two investigations are connected and that Cannon’s assessment of the harm to national security cannot proceed without the FBI’s cooperation. The Justice Department is asking the judge to stay her ruling while it appeals so it can investigate how the documents were handled.
Justice Department Warned Against Any Further Delays In The Trump Documents:
In court pleadings, Trump’s attorneys have asserted that the papers were unclassified and are his personal bests and property. The Justice Department has mocked these assertions in a new brief.
Separately, the information previously redacted from the affidavit that the government used to justify the search was made public by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who approved the search warrant for the Trump property.
The recently public portions of the affidavit demonstrate that investigators were looking for various top-secret and other types of classified documents. Additionally, it demonstrates how Trump’s attorneys claimed investigators had all been maintained in a storage room at the resort when they turned over 38 documents in June that were classified as top secret, secret, or confidential.
At the time of their visit on June 3, representatives from the Justice Department reported that the room still contained roughly 50 boxes, a “coat rack with suit coats”, and “interior design items such as wall art and frames.” According to court documents filed by the Justice Department, investigators claimed that Trump’s attorneys refused to permit them to see inside the boxes during the visit.
