Trump Team, DoJ Submit Their Special Master Contenders for Ongoing Mar-a-Lago Probe

Trump’s legal team and Biden’s DoJ lawyers both sought to downplay the impression that they’re playing team sports by proposing a judge nominated by the other party for the “special master” position. But whoever ends up getting named, which documents they’re actually allowed to inspect has yet to be determined.

The US Department of Justice and the defense team for former President Donald Trump have announced their candidates for the proposed “special master” that’s likely to be charged with determining which documents seized by Federal Bureau of Investigations agents can be used by prosecutors, a newly-published filing shows.

If the Biden administration’s appeal against the decision to grant Trump’s request for a special master is ultimately unsuccessful, the DoJ has proposed the Honorable Barbara S. Jones and the Honorable Thomas B. Griffith for the job – both Republican appointees. Former Attorney General John Fishwick told MSNBC that the selections send “a strong message” that Justice Department officials “want to have somebody from the other party, originally appointed by the other party.”

Trump, meanwhile, has proposed the Honorable Raymond J. Dearie, a former FISA court magistrate, and Paul Huck, Jr., a senior judge from Florida nominated to the circuit court by former US President Bill Clinton – an apparent attempt to neutralize the ostensible DoJ push to minimize partisan perceptions.

Differences of opinion in how the case should proceed go well beyond the identity of the proposed special master, however. Trump’s legal team is arguing that whoever is named to the position should have oversight over all documents seized during the raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month – including those marked “classified.”

The DoJ wants the special master’s purview to be limited to those documents not subject to classification and says they should be barred from taking claims of executive privilege into account.

They’re also insisting Trump foots the bill for the special master process, too. The former president’s lawyers, meanwhile, argue that the costs should be split down the middle.

For now, it remains to be seen whether Trump will ultimately be charged with any criminal wrongdoing over his alleged mishandling of sensitive documents – and, if so, with what specific crimes.