Donald Trump’s attorneys acknowledge the possibility of criminal charges against the ex-president and his aides on new court filings — as he and the DOJ prepare to meet the special master for the FIRST time
- On Monday, Donald Trump’s lawyers wrote to the special foreman overseeing the investigation of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago
- They said for the first time that the former president could be prosecuted for his role in the saga
- They argued against some of the government’s and special master’s requests, arguing that doing so could jeopardize future legal action
- Trump’s attorneys and the government are scheduled to be heard Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn before Dearie
Donald Trump’s lawyers have admitted for the first time that the former president could face criminal charges for his actions with the Mar-a-Lago document cache.
In a letter Monday to Raymond Dearie, the special master — an independent judge — tasked with overseeing the FBI investigation into the documents, Trump’s team expressed concerns about the investigation.
Trump’s attorneys wrote that they do not want Dearie to compel Trump to “fully and expressly disclose a defense as to the merits of any subsequent indictment without such requirement being apparent in the district court order” — a statement indicating that Trump or his aides could be prosecuted.
The FBI is investigating how more than 300 classified documents ended up in Trump’s Florida home and why they were removed from the White House when he left, rather than turning them over to the national archives.
Donald Trump is seen at a rally in Ohio on Saturday. On Monday, his attorneys wrote to Special Counsel Raymond Dearie to set out their requests for an investigation into the Mar-a-Lago documents
Raymond Dearie, a veteran New York judge, was appointed special master to oversee the Mar-a-Lago investigation
Documents related to the search warrant on Trump’s estate are pictured on August 18
Mar-a-Lago was raided by FBI agents on August 8th
In January, the FBI seized the first batch of documents, and a second cache was removed in June. On August 8, while Trump was in Manhattan, agents searched the property and took away the remaining files.
Trump, 76, has claimed he put in place a protocol that says any files he removed from the Oval Office were automatically declassified.
But on Monday, Trump’s attorneys pre-emptively tried to stop Dearie from asking about the grading rules.
They argued that Trump could be legally disadvantaged if he answered questions about the alleged declassification system at this stage of the trial, and denied Dearie’s request “to disclose specific declassification information to the court and to the government.”
Judge Aileen Cannon, the Florida judge on the case who agreed to the trial’s special review, has ruled that Dearie must complete his analysis of the approximately 11,000 documents by the end of November.
The pre-conference is scheduled for Tuesday before Dearie at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York.
Trump’s attorneys said in their Monday letter that they “generally agree” with the schedule but have some changes they plan to discuss at Tuesday’s hearing.
They also expressed concern that some parts of the case could be heard by US Judge Bruce Reinhart, the judge who approved the FBI’s search warrant. Trump attorneys argued that Cannon, a Trump-appointed person who had appointed the Special Master, intended this litigation to proceed through the Special Master process, with Dearie’s recommendations ultimately reported to her.
In her own filing, the Justice Department did not address how Dearie should review the classified documents.
They urged Dearie to check with the National Archives and Records Administration — the federal agency charged with maintaining and tracking government records — while he conducts the review, and suggested weekly reviews with both parties to ensure a smooth process ensure the verification process.