On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) informed a federal judge that it had conducted a preliminary analysis of boxes taken during the Aug. 8 raid on the former Mar-a-Lago and discovered “minimal” information that might be protected by the attorney-client privilege.
Last week, former president Donald Trump filed a motion with Trump appointee Judge Aileen M. Cannon to require the DOJ to appoint a “special master” who would evaluate the seized documents and cull out any that concern executive privilege or attorney-client privilege (which President Joe Biden, controversially, claims to have waived).
The DOJ had opposed the use of a special master but Judge Cannon indicated that she was inclined to agree with Trump.
The DOJ’s “Privilege Review Team” has already “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… to address potential privilege disputes,” according to a submission to the court signed on Monday by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and FBI Counterintelligence Chief Jay Bratt. Despite pending executive privilege claims by Trump, it made no mention of it and did not clarify if DOJ investigators had already had access to those papers.
Politico‘s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney suggested in their report on the DOJ submission that Trump’s request may be “too late,” though they did not cite any legal authority that would justify violating the former president’s legal rights simply if the DOJ, with a surprise search warrant, reviewed the materials faster than Trump could mount a legal defense to protect them.
Last week, the media reported that Trump was having trouble finding lawyers to represent him — a possible reason for the delay. Reports suggested that lawyers were unsure whether Trump would pay them; the same reports did not mention the fact that lawyers for Trump have been subjected to aggressive Bar complaints, or forced to testify at the January 6 Committee.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Article From: Breitbart Rephrased By: InfoArmed
