Trump wants special master for Mar-a-Lago documents

Former President Donald Trump on Monday asked a federal judge to pause the FBI’s review of the documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago estate until a neutral special master can be appointed. Special masters often review documents to discern whether they are subject to attorney-client privilege. Former judges filled the roles in other recent high-profile cases—specifically, the investigations of former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen. The request came as part of a lawsuit filed by Trump’s legal team, its first legal action on the Mar-a-Lago situation since the raid two weeks ago.

What about the search warrant affidavit? Another legal document at the center of the Mar-a-Lago search is the affidavit that supported the FBI’s request for a warrant to search the estate. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart wrote in an order Monday that the necessary redactions to the affidavit—which several news agencies have sought to have released—may be so extensive that they make the document meaningless to the public. Reinhart had previously given the Justice Department until noon Thursday to propose redactions. Trump and his supporters have called for the affidavit’s complete release, saying it will expose government overreach. The warrant itself has already been made public at the request of the Justice Department.

Dig deeper: Read Lynn Vincent’s report in WORLD magazine about how the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate may indicate the start of a new era in American politics.