Some of the paperwork recovered throughout the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort “potentially contain attorney-client privileged information,” Justice Department attorneys mentioned Monday.
The Justice Department acknowledged the discover in a submission to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who’s weighing a request from Trump’s workforce to nominate a particular grasp to overview some of the paperwork the FBI seized as a part of its nationwide security-related felony investigation.
In an order Saturday, Cannon instructed the Justice Department to file beneath seal “a more detailed Receipt for Property specifying all property seized” and mentioned that she needed to be informed “the status of Defendant’s review of the seized property, including any filter review conducted by the privilege review team and any dissemination of materials beyond the privilege review team.”
The decide mentioned over the weekend that her “preliminary intent” is to grant Trump’s request for a particular grasp, however that she wouldn’t rule till she hears the federal government’s arguments at a listening to in West Palm Beach on Thursday.
If Cannon grants Trump’s request, the particular grasp can be in cost of reviewing paperwork for problems with privilege, not the extremely delicate information on the coronary heart of the federal government’s investigation.
Trump’s authorized submitting additionally sought safety for paperwork coated by govt privilege that applies to presidents, however since he’s not in the White House that authorized safety doesn’t routinely apply to those information.
In its submitting Monday, the Justice Department mentioned that previous to the decide’s order, a privilege overview workforce had “identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information, completed its review of those materials, and is in the process of following the procedures” laid out in the search warrant affidavit “to address potential privilege disputes, if any.”
Those procedures embody asking a decide for a ruling on whether or not the paperwork are privileged or disclosing the paperwork to “the potential privilege holder” — Trump — to see in the event that they’re claiming privilege.
In a court docket submitting final week, attorneys for Trump argued that the FBI has “declined to provide even the most basic information about what was taken, or why” throughout its extraordinary Aug. 8 search of Trump’s property.
A doc connected to the search warrant that was later unsealed by a special decide mentioned the brokers had been looking for “All physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime and other items illegally possessed in violation of” three legal guidelines, together with one involving nationwide safety information.
A property receipt that was additionally unsealed confirmed brokers eliminated 11 units of labeled paperwork, together with some that had been labeled secret and high secret.
The DOJ mentioned Monday it would adjust to Cannon’s order and submit “a sealed supplemental filing containing a ‘more detailed Receipt for Property'” this week, in addition to a public response to Trump’s request for a particular grasp.
The submitting additionally confirmed that DOJ and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have began a classification overview of the supplies seized throughout the search and confirmed that ODNI is main an intelligence neighborhood threat evaluation.