Lawyers for former President Donald Trump filed court documents Monday arguing against any pause in a judge’s order for a special master to review documents seized at Mar-a-Lago last month, suggesting some of the documents marked as a classified may not be and that Trump may be entitled to retain the materials in his possession.
“In what is at its core a document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control, the government is unfairly trying to criminalize the 45th president’s possession of his own presidential and personal records,” Trump’s lawyers wrote , arguing that prosecutors are trying to limit any outside review of “what it considers to be ‘classified records.'”
Thei The filing responded to the Justice Department’s request that U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon temporarily suspend parts of her Labor Day order in which she agreed to appoint a special master to review thousands of documents seized by the FBI in court. approved the search of Trump’s club and residence on August 8.
Federal prosecutors asked Cannon to withhold his decision that the FBI not use the more than 100 classified documents seized in the search until they are reviewed by the special master, essentially an outside legal expert. The government also asked Cannon to exempt classified documents from external review, saying requiring such a review would unnecessarily complicate national security issues in the high-profile case.
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In thei In the filing, Trump’s lawyers disagree, charging that prosecutors are overstating national security concerns and that “there is no indication that the alleged ‘classified records’ have been disclosed to anyone.” The filing introducing four members of Trump’s legal team: Christopher Kise, Lindsey Halligan, Evan Corcoran and James Trusty.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the government has “failed to demonstrate” that materials marked as classified are still actually classified. One section of his 21-page filing describes a president’s power to declassify documents, but does not say Trump actually declassified the material before leaving office. The filing also says there is no indication that the “loaned ‘classified records’ were disclosed to anyone.”
The Washington Post reported that among the documents seized by the FBI was one that described a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about it These people also said some of the seized documents detail top-secret US operations that are so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark.
The Justice Department has said in court documents that among the more than 100 classified documents seized in August, some were marked “HCS,” a category of highly classified government information that refers to “HUMINT control systems.” , which are systems used to protect intelligence. collected from secret human sources. There were also dozens of empty folders marked classified, according to a government inventory filed in court, and documents marked confidential, secret and top secret.
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“The government claims that President Trump cannot have such an interest in the alleged ‘classified records,'” says the filing from Trump’s legal team. “But again, the government has not shown that these records remain classified. This issue is to be determined later. .”
The former president’s lawyers also said the investigation into the documents should be centered around the Presidential Records Act, a civil law that says presidential records belong to the government, not the individual president. Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing that their interpretation of parts of the act suggests that Trump has “an absolute right to access” his presidential records. They did not address criminal statutes, including a portion of the Espionage Act, that the government alleges could have been violated by keeping or hiding classified documents at Mar-A-Lago.
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Trump’s lawyers suggest recent coverage of the documents case shows the government is being selective and unfair when raising national security concerns, citing The Post’s report that materials involving a foreign country’s nuclear capabilities were among the confiscated documents.
“The government is apparently unconcerned about unauthorized leaks of the contents of alleged ‘classified records,'” the filing says.
For months before the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, the National Archives and Records Administration and the Justice Department tried to get Trump to return all the presidential and White House documents he still had his power of attorney, according to court documents in the case.
In May, the government subpoenaed Trump, asking him for all the secret documents he still had. His lawyers told the government in response to the subpoena that everything had been returned. But last month’s search yielded an additional 27 boxes containing a mix of personal items and classified and unclassified government material.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.