On Thursday, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to reconsider her decision to temporarily bar prosecutors from accessing classified documents seized from former President Donald J. Trump's Florida home, arguing that her decision was impeding the government's efforts to determine whether national security had been compromised.
The department's attorneys revealed their plan to challenge major aspects of Judge Aileen M. Cannon's verdict in a pair of files in federal court. They stated that if she does not agree to do so by next Thursday they would approach an appeals court to block certain aspects of her order.
DOJ Appeals Ruling on Trump's Special Master
Judge Cannon's decision, issued on Monday, prohibits the department from utilizing papers taken by the FBI during a court-authorized search on Aug. 8 in its investigation of Trump, including any categorized as highly sensitive.
She stated in the judgment that she intended to appoint an impartial arbitrator, known as a special master, to sort through the more than 11,000 papers and 1,800 other things discovered at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
The special master would also have the authority to select and set aside any information that may be protected by attorney-client or executive privilege or personal. Prosecutors requested that Judge Cannon allow investigators to continue using classified records - a distinct group of just over 100 papers while withholding them from the special master.
The department argued, forcefully and forebodingly, that establishing the national security implications of Trump's preservation of the records was so entwined with its criminal investigation that carrying out the risk assessment was impossible under the court's terms, as per New York Times.
The DOJ's submission comes ahead of a Friday deadline to collaborate with Trump's legal team on a list of applicants to serve as the special master in charge of evaluating the materials.
Elsewhere in the application for a stay, the DOJ attacks Trump's claim of executive privilege over secret documents. The DOJ also stated that once Trump's custodian of records was subpoenaed in May and ordered to give over any leftover documents, his legal team never mentioned the possibility of claiming presidential privilege over any classified data.
Trump Slams Appeal on Truth Social
On Twitter, Trump criticized the appeal, stating that the Justice Department was going to spend Millions of Dollars, & enormous amounts of Time & Energy, to appeal the Order on the 'Raid of Mar-a-Lago Document Hoax,' by a brilliant and courageous Judge whose words of wisdom resonated true across our Nation.
The DOJ's appeal came after many legal experts suggested they had no choice but to challenge the judgment even though extra litigation might potentially delay its ability to restart the examination of classified information, which is a critical stage in its probe.
Former US Attorney Barbara McQuade argued that if the Justice Department's primary purpose is to indict Trump, an appeal might prolong that process. However, if the Department of Justice determines that the primary purpose is to safeguard executive privilege and its constraints from the perspective precedent created by Cannon's finding, then a challenge makes more sense.
As DOJ officials grappled with how to proceed, they received a major boost from Bill Barr, Trump's former attorney general, who spoke out strongly against Cannon's finding and urged the Justice Department to fight it, according to The Hill.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, stated that the yet-to-be-named special master will be in charge of evaluating the Mar-a-Lago records and separating those that may be protected by the attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.
The Justice Department is looking into what it calls the illegal retention of national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago, as well as efforts to hinder the investigation. It's unclear if Trump or anybody else will face criminal prosecution. The parties were instructed to submit candidates for a special master's by Friday. This position is frequently held by a lawyer or a former judge, VOA News reported.
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