After Donald Trump requested an independent, third-party “special master” review of documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate, one federal judge announced her intent to make this happen.
The Daily Caller reported, U.S. District Judge from the Southern District of Florida Aileen M. Cannon made the announcement after former President Donald Trump filed a motion Monday to request that a special master review the materials. The former president accused the federal government of failing to provide “any reason for the unprecedented, general search of his home.”
Cannon says that after reviewing the details of the case, she agrees with the Trump legal team that a third-party review was necessary. The judge filed a motion for the Department of Justice to respond by appointing a special master along with a more detailed list of items taken from the resort.
The search warrant was very vague on the details of items seized, and the released affidavit was heavily redacted making it almost completely unknown what was actually taken from the President’s home.
20 boxes of allegedly classified information were taken from Mar-a-Lago, thus far we have almost no idea what that information actually consists of.
We do know that among the documents was information on the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and a grant of clemency for Roger Stone.
Stone’s Clemency is not classified information. In fact, the document can be fully viewed and printed from the Department of Justice’s website.
“In accordance with Rule 53, the parties are advised to include in their filings their respective and particularized positions on the duties and responsibilities of a prospective special master, along with any other considerations pertinent to the appointment of a special master in this case,” she said in a preliminary order.
Special masters are commonly used to settle disputes regarding documents that are secret.
Typically this refers to information under attorney-client privilege, not classified government information.
Cannon reportedly found the initial Trump request for a special master to be confusing but after several clarifications, a revised motion was sent and granted.