The ruling, by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, is a major victory for the former president, who has opposed the Biden administration and Justice Department since the investigation began four weeks ago. “In connection with Plaintiff’s past position as President of the United States, the stigma attached to the seizure of the subject matter is of its own,” Cannon wrote. “A future indictment, based in any degree on assets that should be returned, would result in reputational damage of a distinctly different order of magnitude.” Cannon ordered a third-party lawyer, outside the government, be brought in to review the materials taken from Trump’s Florida home and resort. The order also prevents the Justice Department from continuing its review of materials seized from Mar-a-Lago “pending the completion of the master’s special review or further court order.” However, classification review and intelligence assessments conducted by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will be allowed to continue. Both sides have until Friday to nominate special candidate masters and their specific duties. Trump’s lawyers argued that a special master was needed because they don’t trust the Justice Department to fairly identify privileged materials that should be excluded from the ongoing criminal investigation. Trump blasted the Justice Department and the seizure at his rally in Pennsylvania this weekend. “This flagrant abuse of the law will cause a backlash like no one has seen before,” he said. “… these same people in Justice and the FBI, these same people, along with outside scum, are at it again with the horrible raid on my house. They just keep going and they have to stop.” However, Cannon wrote that Trump had not proven that his constitutional rights were violated. “(T)he Court agrees with the government that, at least on the evidence to date, there has not been a compelling showing of callous disregard of plaintiff’s constitutional rights,” he wrote. But Cannon cited several reasons for bringing in the special master, including “an interest in ensuring the integrity of a tactical process amid swirling allegations of bias and media leaks.” He also mentioned the historical nature of the case. The judge said the special master would be tasked with screening “seized property for personal effects and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege.” He added: “The Court is aware that limitations on criminal prosecutions are frowned upon, but finds that these unprecedented circumstances call for a brief pause to allow neutral third-party review to ensure a fair process with adequate safeguards.”
FBI Got TRUMP’S MEDICAL, TAX INFORMATION IN SEARCH, JUDGE SAYS
The Justice Department said its own “filter team” has already completed its review of the Mar-a-Lago documents — and found a small set of privileged attorney-client records. In court documents, the DOJ said a “limited” number of records potentially covered by attorney-client privilege were leaked and that the department was following the procedures it set out to a judge when it sought the warrant, but Cannon had questions about the results. The Justice Department also obtained “tax-related correspondence” and medical records during the investigation, according to the privilege panel report that remains sealed but Cannon described Monday. Cannon noted that Justice Department lawyers had acknowledged that he seized some “[p]personal effects without probative value,” as well as 500 pages of material that may be subject to attorney-client privilege. “Appointing a special master to make privileged determinations while allowing the government, in the interim, to continue using potentially privileged material for investigative purposes would be to ignore pressing concerns and hope for the best,” the judge said. He wrote that Trump’s “personal interest and need for the seized property” was a reason to rule in favor of Trump’s requests for a special master. Cannon also said the privilege review panel’s report described “at least two instances in which members of the investigative team were exposed to material that was subsequently turned over to the Privilege Review Panel.” “These cases alone, even if completely unintentional, raise questions about the adequacy of the filter,” he wrote. “The United States is reviewing the opinion and will consider appropriate next steps in the ongoing litigation,” said Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley.
FRIDAY DEADLINE FOR TRUMP, JOURNALIST TO NOMINATE SPECIAL MASTER
Cannon set a Friday deadline for Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department prosecutors to negotiate the special master’s “duties and limitations” and submit a list of potential candidates to serve in the role. He also wants both sides to propose a timeline for the master’s special review and spell out how the individual will be compensated for his work. “The exact details and mechanics of this review process will be decided expeditiously upon receipt of the parties’ submissions,” Cannon wrote. Because the lawsuit seeking the special master was filed by Trump two weeks after the investigation, it has raised questions among legal observers about what role a special master might play, given that the Justice Department was then likely on track to complete a review. of the evidence. The scope of a special topic will be key. The Justice Department had requested that the review, if approved, focus on materials potentially covered by attorney-client privilege. Trump requested the special master because of concerns about executive privilege in seizing the records. At the hearing, the judge reportedly said Trump’s ability to claim executive privilege as a former president was unsettled law. But he also had pointed questions for the Trump team about what the overhaul they were seeking would look like. If the two sides do not agree on parameters for the soon-to-be-appointed special master, they will have to explain their differences in a court filing, Cannon ruled Monday.
CITE THE RECENT SUPREME COURT DECISION IN CAVANAUGH
In explaining why she was ordering a special master’s review for material potentially covered by executive privilege, Cannon said the Justice Department had not convinced the court that those concerns should be “overlooked,” as she continued to quote from how the Supreme Court described his movement. in a dispute this year over Jan. 6 Trump documents, including a statement by Judge Brett Cavanaugh. The DOJ had “undoubtedly overstated[d] the law,” Cannon wrote, when he argued that executive privilege had “no role here because Plaintiff — a former head of the Executive Branch — is completely precluded from successfully asserting executive privilege against the current Executive Branch. “The Supreme Court has not precluded a former President from overriding a sitting President in matters of executive privilege,” Cannon wrote. He quoted from both the 1977 Nixon v. Admin. “Furthermore, just this year, the Supreme Court noted that, at least with respect to a congressional inquiry, ” Cannon added a line from a statement Kavanaugh wrote with this Supreme Court order: “A former President must be able to successfully invoke the Presidential Communications Privilege for communications made during his Presidency, even if the present President does not support the claim to the privilege. Otherwise, it would dilute the executive privilege for presidential communications.” Escaping those passages from the Supreme Court, Cannon wrote Monday that “even if any assertion of executive privilege by Plaintiff ultimately fails in this context, that possibility, even if probable, does not negate the ability of a former President to raise the privilege as an initial matter.”
THE JUDGE WAS CONFIRMED AFTER THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Cannon, of Florida’s Southern District, was nominated by Trump for the seat in May 2020 and confirmed by the Senate 56-21 just days after the November 2020 presidential election. He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida in the Major Crimes Division and as an Appellate Attorney, according to written answers he gave to the Senate during his confirmation process. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Cannon clerked for a federal judge and later practiced law at a firm in Washington, where she handled a range of cases, including some involving “government investigations,” she told the Senate. At her 2020 nomination hearing, Cannon thanked her family members and shared the impact of their experience on her life. “To my beloved mother…who, at the age of 7, had to flee the oppressive Castro regime in search of freedom and safety, thank you for teaching me about the blessing this country has and the importance of securing its sovereignty by law for …
