The Justice Department on Friday, Aug. 26, released a partially blacked-out document explaining the justification for an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate earlier this month, when agents removed top secret government records and other classified documents.

August 29, 2022
The Justice Department has completed its review of potentially privileged documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate this month and has identified “a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information,” according to a court filing Monday, AP reports.

The filing from the department follows a judge’s weekend order indicating that she was inclined to grant the Trump legal team’s request for a special master who would oversee the review of documents taken during the Aug. 8 search of the Mar-a-Lago estate and ensure that any that might be protected by claims of legal privilege be set aside.

In revealing that the department had completed its review of potentially privileged communications, law enforcement officials appeared to be suggesting that the appointment of a third-party special master might now be moot. The department had been relying on a specialized team to filter out potentially privileged communications and said Monday that it had completed its review of those materials before the judge’s order.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said on Saturday that it was her “preliminary intent” to appoint a special master — which would be an early procedural win for the Trump legal team — but gave the department an opportunity to respond and scheduled a Thursday hearing to discuss the matter further.

The judge also directed the Justice Department to submit under seal a more detailed description of the materials that were seized from Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, something the department on Monday said it would do.

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