The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a court filing Monday that the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence revealed a “limited set” of documents that may be protected by attorney-client privilege.
The filing comes after a Saturday order from Judge Aileen Cannon for the DOJ to respond to Trump’s motion to appoint a “special master” to oversee review of the seized material. The DOJ indicated Monday that they will “file a public response” to the motion. The filing also stated:
Although the government will provide the Court more detail in its forthcoming supplemental filing, the government notes that, before the Court issued its Preliminary Order, and in accordance with the judicially authorized search warrant’s provisions, the Privilege Review Team … identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information, completed its review of those materials, and is in the process of following the procedures set forth in paragraph 84 of the search warrant affidavit to address potential privilege disputes, if any.
A hearing is scheduled for Thursday to discuss the appointment of a special master.
Last week, the DOJ released a redacted version of the affidavit seeking a search warrant for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. The DOJ also released a memo outlining the reasons for the proposed redactions. The FBI executed the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.