WASHINGTON — The storage of sensitive government documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida “should have never been cause for alarm,” his lawyers argued in a court filing Wednesday.
“The purported justification for the initiation of this criminal probe was the alleged discovery of sensitive information contained within the 15 boxes of Presidential records. But this ‘discovery’ was to be fully anticipated given the very nature of Presidential records,” the filing states. “Simply put, the notion that Presidential records would contain sensitive information should have never been cause for alarm.”
Last week, Trump requested a third-party special master to review materials taken from his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach during a court-approved search in early August. His lawyers have argued that a special master is necessary to ensure the Justice Department returns any private or privileged documents seized during the search and that the department will “leak and publicize its probe.”
