“The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the storage room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the department argued in a filing in US District Court in the Southern District of Florida.
The department’s filings on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) come ahead of a Thursday court hearing before US District Judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach. She is weighing Trump’s request to appoint a special master who would conduct a privilege review of thedocuments seized from Mar-a-Lago on August 8,many of which are labelled as classified.
A special master is an independent third party sometimes appointed by a court in sensitive cases to review materials potentially covered by attorney-client privilege to ensure investigators do not improperly view them.
A special master was appointed,for instance,in the searches of the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former attorneys:Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen.
Loading
The department rejected any attempt by Trump to delay investigators’ review of the seized documents,saying Trump “will suffer no injury absent an injunction – let alone an irreparable injury;and the harms to the government and the public would far outweigh any benefit” to him.