Former US President Donald Trump has approached the Supreme Court over FBI’s raid at his Mar-a-Lago retreat and seizing of papers marked as classified, CNN reported. He specifically wants the court to ensure that the documents marked as classified are made part of the special master’s review.
If the SC grants his request, he would be in a position to challenge the search in court. Trump has argued that as a former president, he might have the right to possess certain government documents, including those potentially containing the country’s most sensitive secrets.
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The Justice Department has been given a deadline of 5 pm Tuesday, October 11, to respond.
The special master is a third-party attorney who will be tasked with reviewing evidence and filtering out privileged documents. Allowing such a person access to classified documents might pose a real threat to the criminal investigation.
Earlier, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the documents marked as classified can continue. A district judge in Florida had put the probe’s use of the records on hold, granting a Trump request for a third-party review of the materials obtained in the Mar-a-Lago search. That appeals court is now considering whether to wipe away the rest of the special master order.
(With inputs from agencies)
