Fed judge appoints special master to review items seized from Trump lawyer

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Thursday appointed a special master to review material seized from the office and residences of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, acceding to his request that an independent party review the material before federal prosecutors can access to it.

The decision came after prosecutors quickly pounced on comments Trump made Thursday morning that the lawyer performed little legal work for him, to undercut Cohen’s argument that much of the material was protected by attorney-client privilege.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood appointed retired federal Judge Barbara Jones to serve in the special-master role to assess whether the documents include any confidential communications between Cohen and his legal clients, including Trump.

Jones, who served as a federal judge for 16 years in the Southern District of New York, is a former organized-crime prosecutor who was chief assistant to a longtime Manhattan district attorney.

Wood said Jones was prepared to meet with lawyers from both sides next week to work out the process. She laid out a schedule of about four weeks for the special master and Cohen’s attorneys to review the material. Wood made clear that she does not want the review to get bogged down in legal wrangling, saying that she was prepared to intervene if there are unnecessary delays.

“If at any point it turns out that the special-master process is going too slowly, I will revisit it,” she said.