Politics

DOJ Says It Already Reviewed Documents Taken In Mar-A-Lago Raid

REUTERS/Kate Munsch/File Photo

Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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The Department of Justice (DOJ)’s “filter team” has already reviewed documents taken in the Mar-a-Lago raid and identified some that may fall under attorney-client privilege, according to a Monday court filing.

The news comes after former President Donald Trump’s team asked for a special master to independently oversee the review of documents seized when the FBI executed a search warrant at the former president’s home on Aug. 8.

The DOJ noted on Monday that its team had already reviewed documents – and found a “limited set” that “potentially” includes documents covered by attorney-client privilege. The “filter team” is separate from the criminal investigation team. (RELATED: REPORT: FBI Was After Documents Trump Believed Would ‘Exonerate’ Him From Russia Conspiracy)

“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 (as described in paragraphs 81-84 of the search warrant affidavit) 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,” Monday’s court filing reads.

FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is seen in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 8, 2021. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is seen in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 8, 2021. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo

Trump suggested shortly after the raid that some of the documents seized were covered under attorney-client privilege.

“It has just been learned that the FBI, in its now famous raid of Mar-a-Lago, took boxes of privileged ‘attorney-client’ material, and also ‘executive’ privileged material, which they knowingly should not have take,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, earlier in August.

The DOJ, along with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), are still in the midst of “a classification review of materials” and “an intelligence community assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of these materials,” according to the court filing.