Here’s what a special master is and what it would mean for the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago.
A special master is a third-party attorney appointed by a court to oversee part of a certain case.
If appointed in Trump’s case, the special master would oversee the Justice Department’s review of the evidence gathered from his beach club and filter out privileged material that may have been seized in the search.
Why does Trump want a special master?
The former President’s attorneys say his constitutional rights were violated, and that there may have been privileged materials seized. But in court filings, Trump has not elaborated on what exactly he hoped a special master would filter out, besides general allusions to “privileged and potentially privileged materials.”
Still, generally speaking, it is not outside the legal norm for Trump to want a special master involved in the review of the evidence seized from his Florida residence.
What is the Justice Department’s stance?
The department has already signaled that it is using an internal filter team to review the seized items, to separate material that could be subject to privilege claims.
Investigators have already mentioned the work of a filter team when they returned to Trump private documents that wouldn’t be part of the investigation, such as two expired passports and his diplomatic passport.
The Justice Department, in court documents, has said it believed the evidence it collected at Mar-a-Lago will support its criminal investigation into the mishandling of federal records, including national defense material, after Trump’s team took boxes of records to Florida when he left office.
The probe is also looking at potential obstruction of justice in the investigation.
Where does the special master request stand?
District Court Judge Aileen Cannon in the Southern District of Florida has scheduled a hearing for Thursday to consider Trump’s request for a special master. In doing so, the court put the parties on notice that she had a “preliminary intent” to appoint the special master.
Cannon said at the end of the order that it should not be construed as her final decision on the matter, and she previously ordered Trump’s lawyers to elaborate on their arguments for why the court has the ability to step in at this time, explain what exactly Trump is asking for and whether the Justice Department has been served with Trump’s special master motion.
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz, Kaitlan Collins, Tierney Sneed and Kara Scannell contributed to this report.
