In a move that will slow down the Justice Department's investigation of classified material found at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, a federal judge has granted the former president's request to have a "special master" review the seized documents. US District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020, ruled Monday that the department can't use around 13,000 documents and items seized from Trump's residence for investigative purposes until they have been reviewed by an outside legal expert, the Washington Post reports.
The special master will review the documents for anything that could be protected by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege, a move the Justice Department argues is unnecessary because a "filter team" has already set those documents aside. "Plaintiff faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public," Cannon wrote in her ruling, per Politico. She gave Trump's legal team and the Justice Department until Friday to jointly submit a proposed list of special master candidates and outline their duties.
At a hearing last week, Cannon signaled that she was likely to grant the Trump team's request, asking, "What is the harm beyond delaying the investigation?" Under Cannon's ruling, the documents will not be returned to Trump while the review is underway and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will be allowed to continue its assessment of the possible national security risk. While the ruling will delay the Justice Department's investigation, it's not clear whether it will "have any significant effect on any investigative decisions or the ultimate outcome of the probe," the AP notes. (More Donald Trump stories.)
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