(Washington) An independent expert, a federal magistrate, is now responsible for reviewing thousands of documents seized from Donald Trump’s home in early August, a judge ruled Thursday, also upholding a decision by investigators to limit access to them.
Updated yesterday at 9:33 pm.
The Republican billionaire asked the court to appoint an independent third party to review the papers seized in the Aug. 8 search, an unprecedented and unprecedented move for a former president.
The federal investigators behind this police operation Mr. Trump is suspected of keeping highly classified documents in his home.
On Monday, the US Department of Justice said it had accepted one of the names proposed by Mr Trump’s lawyers, and Florida Judge Eileen Cannon confirmed the independent expert’s name on Thursday evening.
This is Raymond Deary, 78, a semi-retired federal judge from New York.
He is now responsible for deciding whether some of the seized documents can be returned to Mr Trump or classified as “secret” – and therefore not used in the investigation against him.
Mme Mr. Trump’s own appointee in 2020, Cannon, also upheld an earlier ruling challenged by the Justice Department on Thursday.
She last week blocked the use of all documents seized during the search unless an independent expert pronounces them. The ministry asked that at least some of them, 100 people, could be classified.
The judge denied the request on Thursday.
On August 8, the FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and seized boxes of classified documents that, despite numerous requests, the Republican never returned after leaving the White House.
Federal investigators suspect the Republican violated the American Espionage Act, which strictly regulates the possession of classified documents. Donald Trump has promised to declassify these documents.
Donald Trump, who openly plans to run for president in 2024, has since lashed out at the search, which he considers “illegal and unconstitutional” and has repeatedly said he was targeted for political reasons.
