(NewsNation) — The Justice Department wants an appeals court to amend the rules the special master will abide by in the Mar-a-Lago document case.
Former President Donald Trump’s legal team was handed a victory Thursday night when a district court judge appointed Judge Raymond Dearie to review the materials seized at Mar-A-Lago to make sure the government does not have anything that could be privileged between Trump and his attorneys.
The government’s Friday filing says the lower court “fundamentally erred” by appointing an overseer at all, but is only seeking to change two things. First, the government wants to be able to review the documents with classified markings. Second, the government does not want to disclose any classified material for review by the special master.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the department to stop reviewing the classified documents until further notice, or until a special master reviewed them.
In the filing, the government argues Trump has no claim to the classified documents since he is now a private citizen and the material belongs to the United States.
The former president’s lawyers have argued in the media that Trump had the authority to declassify documents before leaving office, though they have not claimed he did so in court.
The Justice Department says it would “suffer irreparable harm” if the appeals court ruled against them. They argue it could leave the classified documents in position to be reviewed by someone without proper access.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
