Writing in a motion filed in Florida on Monday, lawyers for the former US president argued for the appointment of a neutral special master to review documents seized by FBI agents on August 8 to determine which might be covered by executive privilege. . The privilege argument could suggest that some of the documents were actually official records that Mr. Trump was not authorized to keep after he left the presidency, an expert says. “If he acknowledges that he has documents in his possession that could have any colorable claim to executive privilege, they are by definition presidential records and belong in the National Archives,” said former FBI agent and former Yale Law School fellow Asha Rangappa. The Guardian on Monday. “Therefore, it is not clear that executive privilege would even be relevant to the particular crime being investigated,” he added. “In this deposition he is essentially admitting that he has them, which the government is trying to establish.” A set of 11 separate sets of documents were seized by FBI agents from Mar-a-Lago on August 8 using a US Justice Department search warrant seeking possibly classified material obtained from the White House by Mr Trump, who has denied that took offense and described search as a politically motivated attack. The investigation followed a months-long investigation by the justice department at the request of the National Archives, which in January recovered 15 boxes of documents and other items from Mar-a-Lago. A subsequent investigation found that additional classified documents were likely still at the estate, The Associated Press reported Monday, leading to this month’s seizure and a search warrant listing potential violations of US law, including the Espionage Act. “Law enforcement is a shield that protects America. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the motion. “Therefore, we are seeking injunctive relief in the wake of an unprecedented and unnecessary raid” on Mar-a-Lago. The Independent has contacted Trump for comment.
