Trump’s lawyers label records case a ‘storage dispute’
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers Monday dismissed as a “storage dispute” Trump’s retention of top-secret documents at his Florida home, urging a judge to keep in place a directive that temporarily halted key aspects of the Justice Department’s criminal investigation.
The Trump team also referred to the documents that were seized as “purported ‘classified records,’” suggesting his lawyers do not concede the Justice Department’s contention that highly sensitive, top-secret information was found by the FBI in its Aug. 8 search of Mara-Lago.
The lawyers asserted that there is no evidence that any of the records were ever disclosed to anyone and said at least some of the records belong to Trump and not the Justice Department.
“This investigation of the 45th president of the United States is both unprecedented and misguided,” they wrote.
“In what at its core is a document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control, the government wrongfully seeks to criminalize the possession by the 45th president of his own presidential and personal records.”
The filing underscores the factual and legal disagreements between lawyers for Trump and the government as the Justice Department looks to move forward with its criminal investigation into the retention of national defense information at Mar-a-Lago and the potential obstruction of that probe.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department said Monday that it was willing to accept one of Trump’s picks for an independent arbiter.
The accommodation could help accelerate the selection process and shorten any delays caused by the appointment of the so-called special master. The judge in the case, granting a request from the Trump team, said last week that she would appoint a neutral arbiter to go through the records and weed out any that may be covered by executive privilege or attorneyclient privilege.
Department lawyers said in a filing Monday night that, in addition to the two retired judges whom they earlier recommended, they would also be satisfied with one of the Trump team selections — Raymond Dearie, the former chief judge of the federal court in the Eastern District of New York. He is currently on senior active status, and the department said he had indicated he was available and “could perform the work expeditiously” if appointed.