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A special master sought by former President Donald Trump in his bid to stall further investigation of documents seized by the FBI at his Mar-a-Lago Florida home has demanded Trump provide declassification evidence to support his claim that he had declassification the documents he removed from the White House at the time of his exit.
The Judge
said the Department of Justice (DOJ) has provided prima facie evidence which
showed the documents were classified.
Judge
Raymond Dearie picked last week by Judge Aileen Cannon to be the special master
told Mr. Trump he will have to assume the record seized by the FBI are indeed
classified if he fails to provide evidence to the contrary.
Trump
lawyers told the special master they are not willing to make public details on
what the former President may have declassified because that topic might end up
being one of their legal defense strategies against a possible future
indictment brought by the Justice Department, The Washington Examiner reports.
“How am I
going to verify the classification? ... What business is it of the court?”
Dearie asked during the Tuesday hearing, according to the Washington Examiner. The
New York Judge noted that “as far I’m concerned, that’s the end of it” because
the DOJ had provided “prima facie evidence” that the records were classified.
In a Monday
filing, Trump’s lawyers stated that Dearie’s draft plan for his tenure as
special master "requires that the Plaintiff disclose specific information
regarding declassification to the Court and to the Government."
Trump’s lawyer Jim Trusty said Tuesday, “We're not in a position nor should we be in a position at this juncture to fully disclose a substantive defense, Trump’s lawyer Jim Trusty was quoted as saying Tuesday, according to the Washington Examiner” Dearie told Trump’s team, “You can’t have your cake and eat it.”
DOJ lawyer
Julie Edelstein argued that the determination on whether records are classified
is the “current executive branch’s decision only.”