A federal judge in the US has ordered that an independent assessor be appointed to go through documents seized by the FBI from the residence of former president Donald Trump last month.
The judge, Aileen Cannon of the federal district court for the southern district of Florida, also said the department of justice in the United States could not use the material taken from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach for any “investigative purpose” connected to its inquiry into Mr Trump until the work of the assessor, known as a special master, was completed.
However, the judge ruled the US director of national intelligence could continue to assess whether the removal of classified documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago posed any risk to national security.
Judge Cannon’s ruling granted the special master wide-ranging authority to review the materials taken from Mar-a-Lago, some of which bore markings labelling them as highly classified. It permitted the person to be appointed to the role to evaluate the documents not only for those protected by attorney-client privilege, a relatively common measure, but also for those potentially shielded by executive privilege, which typically protects confidential internal executive branch deliberations.
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The appointment of the special master had been sought by lawyers representing Mr Trump and the ruling on Monday represented a procedural victory for the former president. The decision may be appealed by the department of justice.
Last week the department of justice opposed the appointment of a special master.
The judge set a deadline of Friday for both sides to propose a special master candidate and their specific “duties and limitations.”
A special master is usually a lawyer or retired judge appointed by a court to review materials seized in a search to determine if any may be protected from investigation by the doctrines of client/attorney privilege or by executive privilege.
Judge Cannon, who was appointed under Mr Trump’s presidency, cited the need to ensure “the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances presented”.
Last Friday the judge ordered an inventory of material taken from Mr Trump’s residence be released.
Among the documents the FBI seized were dozens of empty folders that carried “classified” labels, according to the inventory.
Department of Justice officials previously said that documents stored at Mr Trump’s Florida home were likely to have been concealed as part of an effort to obstruct an FBI investigation.
