Trump-Nominated Judge Picked to Review Files Seized in FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid

Former President Donald Trump maintains that the August 8 FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida was politically motivated – despite claims by the administration of his 2020 election rival Joe Biden that it knew nothing of the search ordered by the Justice Department.

The judge selected to review documents seized in the FBI raid on Donald Trump's Florida home was one of two suggested by the former president's lawyers.

Veteran New York Judge, the Honorable Raymond Dearie was named as special master in the case by US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday in a decision that may be seen as a victory for Trump.

Dearie's name was one of two jurists suggested by Trump's legal team as part of their successful bid to have a special master appointed to examine the allegedly classified documents taken during the unannounced federal raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on August 8.

His job now is to sort through more than 11,000 documents taken by FBI agents and separate out any of Trump's personal files and those which might be protected by attorney-client privilege.

He has been given until November 30 to complete the task — six weeks longer than the Justice Department's lawyers argued he should have.

78-year-old Dearie was the senior judge on the Brooklyn federal court from 1986 to 2011, before serving as a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge.

Trump has said the FBI refused to allow his lawyers access to the mansion while the search was ongoing, and that agents went through his wife Melania's wardrobe, leaving her clothes and underwear in an untidy mess.

While the White House claims it had no advance knowledge of the raid ordered by the Department of Justice, Trump insists that the investigation is politically motivated.

On Tuesday, FBI agents swooped on Trump's ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell at a restaurant drive-through in Mankato, Minnesota, and seized his cell phone.