The Department of Justice (DOJ) told a federal judge on Monday that it had found “limited” materials that could potentially be covered by the attorney-client privilege in a preliminary review of boxes seized in the Aug. 8 raid on former Mar-a-Lago.
Former President Donald Trump filed a motion last week with Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, to compel the DOJ to appoint a “special master” — an independent authority who would review the seized materials to weed out those that involve attorney-client privilege or executive privilege (which President Joe Biden, controversially, claims to have waived).
The DOJ had opposed the use of a special master but Judge Cannon indicated that she was inclined to agree with Trump.
On Monday, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Juan Antonio Gonzalez and FBI Counterintelligence Chief Jay Bratt signed a submission to the court that stated that the DOJ’s “Privilege Review Team” had already “identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information, completed its review of those materials, and is in the process of following the procedures … to address potential privilege disputes.” It did not mention executive privilege, nor did it explain whether DOJ investigators had yet had access to those materials, despite pending claims of privilege by Trump.
Politico‘s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney suggested in their report on the DOJ submission that Trump’s request may be “too late,” though they did not cite any legal authority that would justify violating the former president’s legal rights simply if the DOJ, with a surprise search warrant, reviewed the materials faster than Trump could mount a legal defense to protect them.
Last week, the media reported that Trump was having trouble finding lawyers to represent him — a possible reason for the delay. Reports suggested that lawyers were unsure whether Trump would pay them; the same reports did not mention the fact that lawyers for Trump have been subjected to aggressive Bar complaints, or forced to testify at the January 6 Committee.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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