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Trump pushed hard for a special master to review the Mar-a-Lago documents, and got one.
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But the official, Judge Raymond Dearie, has expressed impatience with Trump’s legal defense.
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A hearing Tuesday suggested that having Dearie involved may not be as useful as Trump hoped.
When a judge granted former President Donald Trump his request of a “special master” to review documents taken from Mar-a-Lago in an FBI raid, it seemed like a victory.
Trump’s lawyers spent weeks pushing for the appointment, and it forced government investigators to stop their review of the records, a process some speculated could take months.
But Trump now has reasons to regret the strategy.
The special master, Judge Raymond Dearie, has not done Trump any favors in his court appearances so far, exposing holes in the legal arguments presented by Trump’s attorneys in court, and confronting their attempts to evade scrutiny.
The approach is a big contrast to that taken by Aileen Cannon, the federal judge who initially handled the case. Cannon, a Trump appointee, has been accused by critics accused of appearing to favor Trump in a series of decisions that baffled legal experts.
At a court hearing Tuesday, Dearie prodded Trump’s attorneys over their refusal to present evidence to support Trump’s claims that he declassified dozens of sensitive government that FBI agents seized at Mar-a-Lago.
Neither Trump nor his attorneys have offered any evidence to back his claim that the documents were declassified, and have claimed that presenting it could imperil a potential defense if the case comes to court.
Dearie showed little patience with their arguments at a hearing Tuesday, saying that if Trump’s lawyers didn’t step up and try and prove Trump’s claim he had little choice but to rule in the DOJ’s favor.
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it,” Dearie said, adding, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
Some analysts have speculated that in seeking a special master, Trump is trying to put as many roadblocks in place to stall the DOJ as he can.
But it seems that in Dearie he’s not found an official to go along with his plans.
Dearie has until November 30 to complete his review of the documents, and the DOJ has launched an appeal against Cannon’s ruling denying them access to the secret documents.
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