Trump team and DOJ submit their picks for Special Master to review Mar-a-Lago documents

The Trump legal team and the United States Department of Justice each submitted their two picks for who should serve as special master in the official review of the government documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago last month.

In a joint filing submitted on Friday, both parties named their top two picks for who should oversee the review of each document taken from Trump’s Florida residence when the FBI executed a search warrant on August 8.

In spite of its appeal in the special master ruling, the Department of Justice nominated two retired judges, Thomas Griffith and Barbara Jones to serve as special master if their appeal is unsuccessful. The Trump team named Republican attorney Paul Huck, Jr., and retired federal judge Raymond Dearie.

The judge in the case, Trump appointee District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, will review the nominations and suggestions for how the mechanics of the review by the chosen special master will work. The two parties disagree on the scope of the special master’s review.

The Trump team believes the special master should be allowed to review all the documents included in the FBI search, and should decide which documents are covered under executive privilege.

The DoJ, however, suggests the appointee should not be allowed to review more than 100 classified documents included in the seizure, and should not consider whether Trump enjoys executive privilege over any of the documents since, the DoJ argues, executive privilege does not extend to former presidents.

Of the four nominees, only one, Judge Barbara Jones, has served as a special master before. The role of a special master includes assisting the judge in sifting through documents related to a case and deciding if any are protected under certain privileges.