(Bloomberg Opinion) — Start circling the wagons. That’s the message a federal district judge is sending to other Trump-appointed judges by allowing a special master to review the documents seized from a Mar-A-Lago safe. By suggesting that former president Donald Trump might be able to invoke executive privilege after leaving office, Judge Aileen Cannon contravened well-settled precedent. It’s the first step in a process whereby Trump’s judicial appointees could delay the Justice Department investigation that places the former president in serious legal jeopardy.
On the surface, the judge’s order to appoint a special master doesn’t sound all that extreme. It’s not unheard of for a judge to appoint a special master to review materials seized under a search warrant to determine if some are subject to attorney-client privilege. With respect to attorney-client privilege, having the judicial branch review a potential defendant’s rights is a good thing, not a bad one.
But executive privilege is different from attorney-client privilege. Broadly, executive privilege is a president’s interest in maintaining the confidentiality of communications with the most senior presidential advisers.
