The notice of appeal came three days after Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled in Trump’s favor and said she would appoint a special master, slowing — at least temporarily — the investigation into the possible mishandling of highly sensitive classified information, as well as possible concealment, falsification or destruction of government records. The Justice Department wrote in a brief filing that it will appeal the ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a separate, concurrent court filing, prosecutors asked Cannon to suspend her Sept. 5 ruling on two key points: her order to temporarily halt a major part of the FBI’s investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information and to allow a special master to review classified material included among documents seized as part of a court-authorized search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Aug. 8. The Post’s Perry Stein explains how a special master will recognize whether any documents seized by the FBI are protected by attorney-client or executive privilege. (Video: The Washington Post) Ultimately, the Justice Department said a special master could be appointed, but argued that the judge should bar the special master from reviewing classified documents. The special master could still sort through personal documents and other items the FBI also seized, setting aside materials as necessary, the filing states. Read the Justice Department’s filing asking Judge Cannon for a partial stay of her order Prosecutors wrote that allowing a special master to review the classified material would “cause the most immediate and serious harm to the government and the public,” noting that those documents have already been moved to a secure facility, separate from the rest of Trump’s seized assets. . papers. And they argued that by barring investigators from using the classified materials found in August until an expert had cleared them, Cannon could harm national security by impeding the Justice Department’s ability to retrieve any other classified documents that may still be outstanding. Prohibiting the FBI from using the classified material in the investigation “could hinder efforts to identify the existence of any additional classified files that are improperly stored — which itself presents the potential for continued national security risk,” the officials wrote. prosecutors — for the first time have suggested in court that there could be more undisclosed classified material they have yet to find. Special Masters and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents: What you need to know Trump’s legal team argued in federal court in West Palm Beach last week that a special master is needed to determine whether any of the documents — more than 100 of which are classified — should be protected from investigators because of attorney-client privilege or executive. They also said an independent outside expert would boost “confidence” in the Justice Department’s criminal investigation. Attorneys for the Justice Department told Cannon they had already sorted through the documents, using a “filter pool” to separate more than 500 pages of documents potentially covered by attorney-client privilege. That deal was approved by the US judge who approved the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home and private club, after the government tried for months to get Trump and his advisers to return everything the government documents kept on the property. . The Justice Department also argued that a former president cannot claim executive privilege after leaving office, and that it is not possible for one part of the executive branch to claim privilege to protect documents from another party. But even if Trump could claim executive privilege, the Justice Department argued in its appeal Thursday, the government’s “demonstrated, special need” to access the classified material would override that privilege. Administration prosecutors also said Trump had no clear need to maintain possession of those classified documents. “Among other things, the classified files are themselves the subject of the government’s ongoing investigation,” the filing states. Trump and the Mar-a-Lago Papers: A Timeline In her initial ruling, Cannon said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence could continue its analysis of the potential national security risk posed by the removal from government custody of classified documents, some of which contain the most sensitive secrets. government information gathering. But Justice Department lawyers said Thursday that it is difficult to separate the FBI investigation from the intelligence review. They said they were unsure of the “limits” and “implications” of the ruling, prompting the intelligence community to temporarily halt its review with criminal investigators. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that among the documents seized by the FBI was one describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity. The people also said the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations that are so closely guarded that many senior national security officials remain in the dark about them. While the appointment of a special master means that investigators cannot use the documents they seized until the outside expert clears them, appealing Cannon’s decision carries its own legal risks for the Justice Department. The appeals process may take longer than any document review by the special master. And there’s no guarantee the administration will prevail, particularly if the case reaches the Supreme Court, which has a conservative 6-3 majority that includes three Trump appointees. This is a developing story. He will be informed.
