An independent expert, a federal judge, is now responsible for reviewing the thousands of documents seized at Donald Trump’s home in early August, a judge ruled Thursday, also upholding a decision limiting their access by investigators.
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The Republican billionaire had asked the court to hire an independent third party to examine the papers seized in the Aug. 8 raid, spectacular and unprecedented for a former president.
Federal investigators behind this police operation suspect Mr Trump of keeping top secret documents in his home.
On Monday, the US Department of Justice said it would accept one of the names proposed by Mr Trump’s lawyers, and Florida Judge Aileen Cannon confirmed that independent expert’s name Thursday night.
It’s Raymond Dearie, 78, a partially retired New York federal judge.
He is now responsible for determining whether certain seized documents could be returned to Mr Trump or classified as “confidential” – and therefore unusable in the investigations against him.
Ms. Cannon, who Mr. Trump self-appointed in 2020, also upheld a previous ruling on Thursday that was being appealed by the Justice Department.
Last week it had blocked the use of all documents seized during the search as long as the independent expert had not spoken out. The ministry asked for access to at least some of them, a hundred, secret.
The judge denied the request Thursday.
On Aug. 8, the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Florida residence, and seized boxes of confidential documents that the Republican failed to return after leaving the White House despite repeated requests.
Federal investigators suspect the Republican of violating an American espionage law that regulates the possession of confidential documents very strictly. Donald Trump assured that these documents had been released.
Donald Trump, who openly plans to run for president in 2024, has since stormed against a search he says is “illegal and unconstitutional,” repeating that he was targeted for political reasons.