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DOJ to appeal special master ruling, arguing classified documents aren't Trump's 'personal records'
The Justice Department will appeal a judge's ruling for a special master to review documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, according to a new court filing.
Politics
WASHINGTON — The hundreds of pages of classified government records seized from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last month aren't the former president's "personal records," and he has no right to possess them, the Justice Department said in a court filing Thursday as it said the government would appeal a judge's ruling on the matter.
The Justice Department will appeal U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling for a special master to look at the documents seized during the search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, according to the notification filed Thursday. The Justice Department said it will file its appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
The department also asked for a partial stay of Cannon's ruling while the appeal is pending, saying that "the government and the public are irreparably injured when a criminal investigation of matters involving risks to national security is enjoined."
Cannon gave Trump until 10 a.m. ET Monday to respond to DOJ's motion for a partial stay of her order granting the special master request.
Parts of Cannon's ruling — specifically those enjoining the government from doing anything with the classified records it seized — would "cause the most immediate and serious harms to the government and the public." The government also wrote, in an eyebrow-raising line, that the injunction could "impede efforts to identify the existence of any additional classified records that are not being properly stored."
"The classified records are government property over which the Executive Branch has control and in which Plaintiff has no cognizable property interest," the Justice Department wrote.
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