In Major Victory for Trump, Judge Grants Special Master in Mar-a-Lago Case

Background: Former President Donald Trump’s legal team wanted an independent arbiter, or a “special master,” to review the thousands of records seized by the FBI in the Mar-a-Lago raid. A federal judge in Florida ruled in favor of Trump’s request, citing the need to promote “fairness.”

Why Trump wanted the special master: According to the Trump team, some of the documents are off-limits to federal prosecutors because of either lawyer-client privilege or executive privilege (the president’s ability to communicate freely with close advisers). A special master would be required to identify those off-limit documents and disqualify them from evidence.

From the left: The New York Times stated that the judge's decision was a “deeply problematic” intervention into a national security investigation, stalling the criminal investigation into Trump. It also argued that there was no basis to have a special master screen materials for executive privilege.

Plus, new information about the documents: Less than one percent of the seized material—11,179 government documents—was confidential. Dozens of the folders marked classified were also empty.