Washington | A US judge on Monday ordered the appointment of an independent expert to review documents seized by the FBI in early August from Donald Trump’s Florida home.
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Judge Eileen Cannon agreed to the Republican billionaire’s request under that order temporarily banning federal investigators from using documents seized in Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Palm Beach residence, in the context of their criminal investigation.
However, investigators can continue to review documents “for the purposes of classification and national security assessments,” according to the federal judge’s ruling.
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The decision represented a victory for the former Republican president and a serious setback for the Justice Department, which opposed the appointment of an independent third party, saying it could block investigators’ access to the documents and “would seriously harm the interests of the government, including national security.”
Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Donald Trump himself in 2020, wrote in her ruling that the appointment of the independent supervisor would be made “without delay,” and asked the parties to draw up a list of potential names for a hearing scheduled for Friday.
“A parody of justice”
On August 8, the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Florida residence, and confiscated boxes of classified documents that the Republican had not returned after leaving the White House, despite multiple requests.
Since this astonishing and unprecedented police operation, a former US president, Donald Trump, who is openly planning to run for president in 2024, has stormed against an act he considers “unlawful and unconstitutional” and repeats that it was targeted for political reasons.
“The raid and the disgraceful raid on my house in Mar-a-Lago was a perversion of justice,” he told a crowd of supporters Saturday night at a Pennsylvania midterm presidential election rally on November 8.
In January, the former president’s teams handed 15 boxes of documents he took when he left the White House to the National Archives, which is responsible for recording presidential activities for history.
Top secret documents
After examining these boxes, the FBI, convinced that Donald Trump was keeping other secret documents in Florida, under potentially unsuitable circumstances, decided to search, seizing on this occasion about thirty more boxes of documents.
“They took documents that are protected” in secrecy between the client and the lawyer, Donald Trump said.
Investigators suspect that the Republican violated the US Espionage Act, which strictly regulates the possession of classified documents. Donald Trump confirmed that these documents have been declassified.
Among the texts seized during the police operation were 18 documents classified as “top secret”, 53 “confidential” and 31 “confidential”.
Among them are papers retrieved from Mr Trump’s personal office.
Officers also found dozens of empty folders marked “confidential” in the office, which may indicate that sensitive documents may be lost or destroyed.
The billionaire is also the target of investigations into his efforts to nullify the results of the 2020 presidential election and his role in the violent assault by his supporters on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He is currently not prosecuted in any way.
