Photo: Justice Department
In a surprise late-night filing, the Department of Justice responded to former President Donald Trump's request to have a special master review the documents seized by FBI agents during a search of his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
The court documents claim that Trump's lawyers told government officials that all of the records taken from the White House were being kept in a secure storage room at Mar-a-Lago.
After receiving information that documents may have been "concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation," prosecutors decided to obtain a search warrant.
The court filing blasted Trump's lawyers, pointing out that FBI agents found multiple classified documents during their search of Mar-a-Lago.
"That the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the 'diligent search' that the former President's counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform calls into serious question the representations made in the June 3 certification and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter."
The filing also included a photograph showing documents marked with different levels of classification obtained during the search.
The Justice Department urged the judge to reject Trump's request for a special master.
"Furthermore, appointment of a special master would impede the government's ongoing criminal investigation and—if the special master were tasked with reviewing classified documents—would impede the Intelligence Community from conducting its ongoing review of the national security risk that improper storage of these highly sensitive materials may have caused and from identifying measures to rectify or mitigate any damage that improper storage caused," the filing said. "Lastly, this case does not involve any of the types of circumstances that have warranted appointment of a special master to review materials potentially subject to attorney-client privilege."