The US court on Monday accepted that an independent expert oversees official documents recovered from former President Donald Trump’s residence in the state of Florida.
Judge Aileen Cannon ordered this expert to be responsible for reviewing the seized assets, managing executive claims invoked in this regard, making recommendations and evaluating asset return requests.
The request for an independent expert was made by Trump’s attorneys last Thursday who argued that his appointment would give “confidence” to the investigation into official documents the former president kept in his Florida mansion.
The judge’s decision, which gave Trump’s team a minor victory, came despite strong objections from the Justice Department, which argued there was no need for an outside legal expert, in part because officials had already reviewed the potential documents.
The judge also suspended the use of the documents seized by the Justice Department for investigative purposes.
“The Court is aware that restrictions on criminal proceedings are unfavorable, but believes that these unprecedented circumstances require a brief pause to allow for a neutral third-party review to ensure a fair trial with adequate safeguards.” to guarantee.”concluded the magistrate, nominated for the office when Trump was still president (2017-2021).
However, investigators may continue to analyze the documents “for the purposes of classification and national security assessments,” the magistrate’s decision said.
Trump’s attorneys argued that an outside expert is needed to provide an independent review of the data created during searches of the Republican’s home.
Such a review is necessary, according to Trump’s legal team, so that personal information or documents retrieved by the FBI can be filtered and returned to the former president, and so that privileged documents can also be separated from the rest of the investigation.
On Aug. 8, FBI agents searched Trump’s property in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, removing dozens of boxes of classified documents, some not only classified as top secret, but also “confidential compartmentalized information,” according to a report of what has been reported. had been stolen.
The FBI operation was prompted by Trump’s possible violations of the Presidential Records Act, which requires all White House residents to return presidential documents when leaving office.
Agents searching the Republican mansion found dozens of empty folders marked confidential.
The inventory does not show why the folders are empty or what might have happened to the missing documents.
While the inventory doesn’t describe any of the documents, it does show the extent to which classified information — including top-secret material — was kept in boxes and containers mixed with newspapers, magazines, clothing and other personal items.
The US Department of Justice ruled that there was no safe space in the Trump home to hold such sensitive government secrets and opened a criminal investigation aimed at preserving these documents.
However, it points out that Justice Department officials described with concern that the highly confidential information was mixed with personal items belonging to the former head of state.
Source: DN
