A federal judge in Florida granted former President Donald Trump's request for the court to appoint a special master to look over materials that the FBI seized in its court-authorized search of Mar-a-Lago.
A special master will be appointed by the court to review seized property for personal items and documents that may be subject to attorney-client and executive privilege.
Government investigators were ordered to hold off on looking at the seized documents until the special master reviews them.
According to the court records made public, the FBI executed a search warrant at the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and recovered several boxes of classified records that Trump took with him from the White House.
There were more than two dozen boxes of documents and other items that were found during the search. Sonam Sheth reported that some of the boxes were marked as top secret.
The court said that some of the materials include private and potentially sensitive documents.
In addition to being deprived of potentially significant personal documents, which alone creates a real harm, there is an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public.
The DOJ had argued that it had its own team that reviewed the documents. The agency argued that Trump's personal documents and items being part of the seizure were relevant as they could be evidence of compromising personal items with classified documents. The agency argued that a separate special master wouldn't interfere with its criminal inquiry.
The judge's order set a problematic precedent according to the former federal prosecutor.
They noted that the decision would slow down the DOJ's process.
Weissmann said it would leave the DOJ in a "untenable position of appealing a clearly wrong decision and enduring the unknown delay that entails or just trying to speed through the Spec Master process."
Not appealing and slogging through with the special master would be a bad precedent for the DOJ, according to Mariotti.
The National Archives and Records Administration must receive presidential records after they leave office.
The Justice Department is looking into the matter of the handling of government documents. If he is convicted of violating the Espionage Act, a law that dates back to World War I, he could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Trump said that he had declassified the documents. Everyone ends up having to bring home their work at times.
The story is evolving. You can check back for the latest news.
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