Legal wrangling: US Department appeals Trump case

Legal wrangling
US Department to appeal Trump case

Former US President Donald Trump at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. photo

© Mary Altaffer/AP/dpa

A judge had just used a neutral examiner for the investigation into Donald Trump – as requested by the ex-president. But the Justice Department doesn’t like it that way.

After the appointment of a neutral examiner in the case of the confiscated documents from ex-President Donald Trump, the US Department of Justice is taking action against parts of the decision. The Department applied to an appeals court for continued access to the documents during the Special Counsel’s review.

The government and the public would suffer irreparable harm if access to the documents were delayed, the motion said. The decision hampered the investigation and the government’s efforts to protect the security of the nation.

Trump’s lawyers see political motivation

A judge appointed a neutral expert to examine the confiscated documents on Thursday. Trump and his lawyers repeatedly criticize the actions of the judiciary as politically motivated. Therefore, they demanded the appointment of the neutral auditor and filed a corresponding lawsuit. This was approved. The special representative now has until the end of November to examine the documents. Until then, the Justice Department no longer has proper access to them – it is taking action against them. The examiner, the New York lawyer Raymond Dearie, has called a first meeting with Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department for next Tuesday.

In early August, the FBI searched Trump’s Florida mansion. The FBI confiscated various classified documents, some with the highest level of secrecy. According to the law, this material should have been given to the National Archives. Since Trump kept the records at his private estate after his term in office, he may have broken the law. This is now being investigated.

The Justice Department had complained that the appointment of the special representative would delay the investigation. The appeal against Thursday’s decision was expected. The ministry now argues that further inspection of the documents by the authorities would not hinder the work of the neutral examiner. “The court order paralyzes this investigation,” the motion said. The ban must be lifted immediately so that the investigation can be resumed.

Trump’s team apparently misled the archive

Meanwhile, more and more details about the case surrounding the confiscated documents are becoming known. The Washington Post reported that Trump’s team misled the National Archives about the missing documents. The national archive is said to have been informed in a conversation in September 2021 that the documents were only newspaper clippings, the newspaper wrote, citing people who were not named.

A former Trump adviser is said to have referred to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the phone call with a lawyer from the National Archives. According to the Washington Post, both Meadows and the former adviser declined to comment. At the time, the National Archives contacted Trump and his team about missing documents.

dpa

source site-3