Trump Asks For ‘Special Master’ To Slow Justice Department Probe

Former President Donald Trump asked a judge on Monday to appoint a special master to review the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into his possible mishandling of classified White House documents.

The third-party attorney would be responsible for reviewing evidence gathered by the FBI in its search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence two weeks ago. If granted, the motion would also stop the government from looking further into the documents before the special master was appointed.

“The Aug. 8 search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause. The Department is aware of this evening’s motion. The United States will file its response in court,” Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement.

Trump and his team seek to ensure that documents that might fall under executive privilege are not used against him.

Trump’s Monday filing also asked that a more detailed list of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago be released to determine which documents should be disregarded in the investigation, even though it was illegal for him to retain the documents in the first place.

The probe into Trump’s documents began in February when the National Archives called on the Justice Department to look into the potential mishandling of classified White House documents by Trump to see if he violated the law after finding that 15 boxes of classified White House records had been taken to his Florida estate.

Under the Presidential Records Act, presidents are required to preserve and turn in all memos, letters, emails and papers that they touched to the National Archives at the end of their term.