The Justice Department has requested to keep over 100 documents from the FBI's recent Mar-a-Lago raid, according to a new court filing.
The move comes after a judge granted former President Donald Trump's request for a special master to review the documents seized from his Florida home.
New: Because the existence of grand jury subpoenas was revealed in Trump's special master litigation, DOJ asked for, and received, permission to unredact info that refers to those subpoenas in the original Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit.
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) September 13, 2022
"The government's stay motion demonstrates that the government is likely to succeed on the merits because Plaintiff cannot plausibly establish any property interest in or privilege," it said.
"These records are at the core of the government's investigation, and the government's inability to review and use them significantly constrains its investigation," it added. "The compelled disclosure of records marked as classified to a special master further harms the Executive Branch's interest in limiting access to such materials absent any valid purpose served by their review."
NEW: Justice Dept says in joint filing with Trump it disagrees on the duties of the special master — DOJ says special master should not review docs with classified markings or exec privilege “(but should submit to NARA any docs over which such claims are made)”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 10, 2022
If granted, the new filing could undermine Trump's attempts to withhold some information from the FBI's raid.
The move would also allow the Justice Department to keep more of its work confidential which has already become very controversial among many Americans.
