Trump opposes DOJ bid to resume review of classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago

Former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, August 6, 2022.

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump urged a federal judge to reject an effort by the Department of Justice to resume its review of documents seized from Trump's home, while the agency appeals the judge's decision to appoint a special master.

The appointment of the special master, an independent third party to examine the seized records for personal items and possibly privileged material, is a sensible preliminary step towards restoring order from chaos.

They argued that the government shouldn't be allowed to skip the process and proceed straight to a conclusion.

The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, Trump's resort home in Palm Beach, Florida, on August 8. Dozens of folders were empty when they were collected by the FBI.

A team of agency officials had already completed a review of the documents to exclude material from prosecutors protected by attorney-client privilege. The national security interests of the government could be harmed by the appointment of a special master, according to the DOJ.

Cannon ordered a special master to look at the records before turning them over to federal prosecutors. The DOJ was temporarily blocked from further reviewing the documents.

The DOJ appealed Cannon's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Cannon was asked to stay her order prohibiting review of the classified documents while the appeal is pending.

Trump and the DOJ disagreed about the scope of the review of the seized records and submitted two candidates to serve as special master. Trump's attorneys say there is no need for the special master to send any executive privilege documents to the National Archives.

The records were found at Mar-a-Lago. His attorneys don't directly echo that claim in Monday's filing, but argue that the Justice Department is wrong to assume that "if a document has a classification marking, it remains classified regardless of any actions taken during President Trump's term in office"

The government has not shown that the records are classified.

Cannon ordered the special master to be authorized. William Barr, who was Trump's attorney general, said last week that he hoped the DOJ would appeal the ruling.