Trump's lawyers continue to fight FBI review of classified Mar-A-Lago documents


The legal team representing former President Donald Trump requested Monday that a federal judge deny the Justice Department's request to continue reviewing documents marked classified that investigators seized from his Mar-a-Lago property. According to The New York Times, this move was another attempt to delay the investigation into whether Trump criminally mishandled files after his presidency.
Trump's legal team renewed their request for an independent third-party reviewer, or "special master," to be assigned to comprehensively review the documents that agents seized from Trump's Florida residence. They asked the presiding judge, Aileen M. Cannon, to uphold her order blocking FBI investigators from viewing any of the documents until the special master completes the independent review.
The lengthy filing contested the DOJ's inquiry into whether Trump or his staff illegally housed national secrets at his personal property. Trump's lawyers addressed the investigation as "a document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control," claiming that investigators are going out of their way to criminalize Trump. They also implied that officials may have leaked information about the content of the files in question, per the Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Prosecutors argue that the judge's order hinders the criminal investigation's progress. The group of about 100 documents that are marked as classified makes up a small percentage of the nearly 13,000 papers gathered from Mar-a-Lago during a court-sanctioned search on Aug. 8.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.
-
6 productivity-ready homes with great offices
Feature Featuring an office with a gas fireplace in Oregon and a shared workspace with wraparound windows in Massachusetts
-
How quarterly estimated tax payments work and when they are due
The Explainer Freelancers, small business owners and those with a side hustle may need to make more frequent tax payments
-
'Alligator Alcatraz will be a blight on the Everglades'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
The ambiguous legal state of ectopic pregnancy care
The Explainer Rep. Kat Cammack's accusations of 'fearmongering' are the latest example of how mixed messages are complicating the debate around abortion
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from
-
ICE: Targeting essential workers
Feature After a brief pause, the Trump administration resumes its mass deportation plan
-
'No Kings': A turning point for the resistance?
Feature Millions of Americans nationwide took to the streets to protest against the Trump administration
-
Trump: Making the military into a 'partisan militia'?
Feature Donald Trump held a military parade just days after sending troops to stop protests in Los Angeles
-
Judges order release of 2 high-profile migrants
Speed Read Kilmar Ábrego García is back in the US and Mahmoud Khalil is allowed to go home — for now