A US judge on Monday agreed to appoint a special expert to review records obtained by the FBI during an unprecedented search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida property, in a move that could delay the Department’s ongoing investigation.
In her decision, Judge Aileen Cannon of West Palm Beach, Florida, said the court authorized the appointment to examine personal belongings, documents and materials that were subject to attorney-client privilege claims. Cannon was appointed by Trump in 2020, just months before he left office.
Cannon’s order allows US intelligence officials to continue the national security damage investigation in the investigation.
Trump accused the Justice Department of launching a partisan witch hunt against him, and his lawyers argued that appointing an independent third party to review the materials would be an important check.
After leaving office in January 2021, Trump is under investigation for removing government records, some of which have been marked as highly classified, from the White House and storing them at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach.
The Justice Department also said the FBI was investigating a possible interception after it uncovered evidence that Trump’s team may have deliberately withheld classified documents when agents tried to retrieve them in June.
In the same incident, on June 3, Trump representatives falsely confirmed that they had conducted a meticulous search and returned all classified material to the government – a claim which was later refuted when the FBI found 33 boxes containing more than 11,000 records and government photos. More than 100 records have been marked as classified.
Trump’s legal team waited two weeks after the FBI’s August client.
For example, a special expert was used to examine materials seized during searches of the homes and offices of two former Trump attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen.
source: Noticias
