Politico Feds seek to fast-track appeal in Trump Mar-a-Lago documents fight

Former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is seen in Palm Beach, Fla. on Dec. 24, 2017. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo


Regarding its criminal investigation into White House records taken by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago, the Department of Justice is requesting an expedited appeal.

To more accurately evaluate the classified files they are looking at, including top secret ones, DOJ officials claim they need access to unclassified material that the FBI earlier this month seized at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence and resort. Officials stated that they also needed to look through all the records for any possible hints as to how the documents may have been accessed and transported.

Unclassified information is currently off-limits to the Justice Department because former U.S. Judge Raymond Dearie, who was named special master — at Trump's request — by U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, is currently supposed to review the files first.

All of the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago had initially been denied access by Cannon to the Department of Justice. However, in a setback for Trump, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit decided last week to overturn part of Cannon's earlier stay and allow the Justice Department to resume reviewing the seized classified records. Dearie was not allowed to review the documents with the designation "classified" by the appeals court.

In a motion submitted on Friday, however, Department of Justice officials argued that the appointment of the special master is still impeding its investigation into what might have grave implications for national security.

It would be in the interests of the Republican Party to delay disclosing damaging information until after the midterm elections, so Cannon on Thursday moved the deadline for Dearie's finished review from mid-November to mid-December. The DOJ wants the appeals process to start as soon as mid-November.

Dearie is tasked with reviewing the unclassified documents to see if any are covered by the executive or attorney-client privilege.

In the meantime, according to the DOJ's filing with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, "the government is... unable to examine [unclassified] records that were commingled with materials bearing classification markings, including records that may shed light on... how the materials bearing classification markings were transferred to Plaintiff's residence, how they were stored, and who may have accessed them."

According to the motion, which was first reported by Politico, "the records not marked as classified may also constitute evidence of potential obstruction and concealment or removal of government records."

The filing criticized Cannon's most recent judgments against Dearie as well.

According to Cannon's decision on Thursday, Trump could disregard Dearie's request that his legal team either support Trump's ostensibly unfounded claim that the FBI "planted" records at Mar-a-Lago or drop it.

However, Cannon's decision seemed to go against her earlier decision giving Dearie control over his review.

The decisions made by Cannon have drawn harsh criticism from a number of legal experts. Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor, said on MSNBC on Thursday that she ought to be dismissed from the bench. She is not fit to serve, he declared.

He emphasized how Cannon had overturned the decision she had made to give Dearie special master status.