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The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal appeals court to shut down a special master’s review of the documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, arguing the review interferes with an active criminal probe.
In a 53-page motion filed with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, the Justice Department said U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon does not have the authority to appoint a special master because it stymies the government’s criminal probe into whether Mr. Trump mishandled classified government documents.
“District courts have no general equitable authority to superintend federal criminal investigations,” Justice Department lawyers wrote. “Instead, challenges to the government’s use of the evidence recovered in a search are resolved through ordinary criminal motions practice if and when charges are filed. Here, however, the district court granted the extraordinary relief Plaintiff sought.”
Judge Cannon initially ordered special master Raymond Dearie, a U.S. District Judge in Brooklyn, to review both classified and non-classified materials seized in the August raid of Mar-a-Lago and barred the Justice Department from using any of those documents in their criminal investigation until the review was done.
