Special Master Appointed to Review Records Seized in Raid of Trump Home

By Lydia Nusbaum

Published Sep. 6, 2022, 10:22 a.m. ET | Updated Sep. 6, 2022

Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona (Gage Skidmore).

PALM BEACH (FLV) – An independent special master will be appointed to review records seized by the FBI during the raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

U.S. District Judge from the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen M. Cannon ordered Monday that an independent special master be appointed and ordered the Department of Justice stop reviewing the seized material for investigative purposes.

The special master will “review the seized property, manage assertions of privilege and make recommendations thereon, and evaluate claims for return of property.”

“The Court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege,” the order reportedly states.

Trump’s legal team argued that the DOJ’s “Privilege Review Team” should not decide whether the actions to search his property was proper. Federal prosecutors believe a special master would delay the investigation and that Trump did not have a right to possess the claimed-classified documents.

The FBI reportedly seized dozens of highly classified documents.

At the time of the raid, Florida Republicans were outraged by the unprecedented move. Many of them, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, said it was the “weaponization of federal agencies.”

“The raid of MAL is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves,” DeSantis said.

Florida’s Voice reported in August that the federal magistrate who signed off on a FBI warrant to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home has an anti-Trump Facebook post dated in 2017.