OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
The Biden DOJ is alleging there may have been an effort to conceal classified documents after the president’s lawyers received a grand jury subpoena earlier this summer.
DOJ “developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed” from a storage locker in Mar-A-Lago and “that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” prosecutors argued in the new filing.
In opposition to these new statements, former President Trump and his lawyers have transparently made clear in every step of the way concerning the documents in Trump’s possession that the Trump Team has complied with all requests from the FBI and DOJ, and been open to returning any documents that the government felt needed to be in the National Archives.
Trump has stated that some of the documents are fated for his presidential library, but that he could hand them over for the time being.
Prosecutor Jay Bratt included a photo of evidence retrieved during the Aug. 8 raid from Trump’s Florida office, including files marked top secret and secret.
Trump has stated that the documents were indeed previously classified, but that he himself declassified those documents before he left the Oval Office.
Bratt said a prior search conducted by Trump lawyers in June in response to a grand jury did not retrieve all classified documents.
Agents “uncovered multiple sources of evidence indicating that the response to the May 11 grand jury subpoena was incomplete and that classified documents remained at the premises, notwithstanding the sworn certification made to the government on June 3,” Bratt wrote.
“In particular, the government developed evidence that a search limited to the storage room would not have uncovered all the classified documents at the premises.”
“The FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the ‘diligent search’ that the former president’s counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform,” the filing added.
During the raid on the Trump home in Florida, the FBI on the premises demanded that the CCTV security cameras be turned off, and refused to let any of the Trump family or their lawyers observe the search.
The Trumps refused to turn the cameras off, and have in their possession the footage of the search that was in camera range. they have not as yet released the footage.
There has not been an answer to why a Trump advisor or lawyer was not allowed to be present during the search.
DOJ said the material recovered in the raid “calls into serious question the representations made in the June 3 certification and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter.”
Bratt also called into question claims by the president’s lawyers that his materials can be shielded from the Biden administration’s claim of executive privilege.
Trump’s lawyers have stated the executive privilege exception over some of the documents, as well as attorney/client privilege over some others.
Due to the vast difference in the statements on both sides, trump and his attorneys made a request of the court in an attempt to provide clarity in regard to the documents.
Earlier this week, in an effort to bring objectivity to the case, former President Trump formally asked for a “special master” to be appointed to oversee the review of the documents.
A mere 4 days ago, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, stated that she is inclined to grant Donald Trump’s request to bring in an outsider to oversee the review of the more than two boxes of materials the FBI seized.
She made this statement in writing in a two-page order giving “notice of [her] preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case” less than a day after Trump’s attorneys made the request.
Special masters are used in cases to oversee the handling of evidence seized in federal criminal investigations and were used in Manhattan in connection with the investigations into Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen.
Trump’s request for a special master shows that he does not trust the Biden DOJ to be objective and would like a neutral, expert handler to be present and be able to testify about the documents in an objective manner.
It seems that in a situation searching for truth, there would be nothing to be lost by doing this.
The Biden Justice Department late Tuesday told a federal judge it opposes naming a special master to review evidence taken from Donald Trump’s Florida home, Just The News reports.
In its 36-page filing, DOJ said the former president’s request for a special master “fails for multiple, independent reasons,” including that it would “harm national security interests.”
It should be noted that a special master would be selected and appointed as a part of the investigative proceedings and by the court.
A judge is expected to make a ruling on the special master as early as the end of this week.
Source: The Republic Brief