WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked a federal judge Monday to prevent the FBI from continuing to review documents recovered from his Florida estate earlier this month until a neutral special master can be appointed to inspect the records.
"Law enforcement is a shield that protects America. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes," the lawyers wrote Monday."Therefore, we seek judicial assistance in the aftermath of an unprecedented and unnecessary raid" at Mar-a-Lago. In some other high-profile cases — including investigations involving Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen, two of Trump's personal attorneys — that role has been filled by a retired judge.
The high court turned down Trump's plea to block records held by the National Archives from being turned over to the Jan. 6 committee, saying then that his request would have been denied even if he had been the incumbent president, so there was no need to tackle the thorny issue of a former president's claims.
After the meeting at Mar-a-Lago in June involving FBI and Justice Department officials, investigators interviewed another witness who told them that there were likely additional classified documents still stored at Mar-a-Lago, according to person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Separately Monday, a federal judge acknowledged that redactions to an FBI affidavit spelling out the basis for the search might be so extensive as to make the document"meaningless" if released to the public. But he said he continued to believe it should not remain sealed in its entirety because of the"intense" public interest in the investigation.
Trump never worried about the Constitution before, now did he, until his ass was hanging in the breeze.
You steal government documents, you go to jail...