WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys filed a lawsuit in court Monday calling for the appointment of an independent party to review the documents retrieved from his Mar-a-Lago estate by FBI agents earlier this month, in a search that revealed the breadth of a federal investigation into Trump's handling of highly classified material.
Trump’s attorneys said the documents are “presumptively privileged” material because they were generated while Trump was president. According to the former president’s team, only a “special master” — an independent person appointed by a court to review materials — could determine whether the material is privileged.
They are also asking a federal court to halt the federal government’s review of the documents that were removed from Mar-a-Lago until a special master is appointed, calling the FBI’s search of Trump’s property a “shockingly aggressive move” against “the clear front-runner in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary ... should he decide to run.”
