Donald Trump claimed that the White House files seized from his Mar-a-Lago compound were his personal property.
Immigration policy, six requests for clemency to the president, and a letter to him from someone in a military academy are included in the files.
The materials are not owned by Trump, according to the Justice Department. The pardon requests were received by the official in his capacity as the official with authority to grant reprieves and pardons not in his personal capacity.
According to the Presidential Records Act, all documentary materials created or received by a president, his staff or his office in the course of official activities should go to the National Archives when he leaves office.
According to Trump, four documents should not be given to investigators. Two immigration policy documents and two documents about meetings are included.
The immigration documents are not protected by executive privilege, according to the Justice Department. He has to argue the claims because they are conflicting.
In a conference call earlier this week, Dearie made a similar point about the conflicting claims in the documents. When Trump's lawyers insist that some documents are protected both by executive privilege and as Trump's personal records, there's an incongruity there
On the call, Dearie complained that Trump's legal team hadn't offered much substance to support its claims.
The special master was appointed by the district judge. He is looking at 11,000 pages of documents to see if they should be protected from scrutiny. The name of Dearie was submitted by Trump.
The Justice Department can resume reviewing the seized classified records after the 11th Circuit ruled that they can. Dearie wasn't allowed to vet the documents marked classified.
Cannon ruled that a special master should be named.
Many more documents are likely to follow the dispute over the nine documents.
The article was first published on HuffPost.
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