US to respond to request for special master for Trump docs

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By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is set to respond Tuesday to the Trump legal team’s request for a special master to review the documents seized during an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago this month.

The filing is due ahead of a Thursday hearing in which U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is set to hear arguments on the matter.

Trump’s lawyers last week asked for the appointment of a special master who’d be tasked with reviewing the records taken during the Aug. 8 search of Trump’s Florida property and setting aside documents protected by claims of legal privilege. Cannon on Saturday said it was her “preliminary intent” to appoint such a person but also gave the Justice Department an opportunity to respond.

On Monday, the department said it had already completed its review of potentially privileged documents and identified a “limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information.”

In a separate development, the Trump legal team has grown with the addition of another attorney. Chris Kise, Florida’s former solicitor general, has joined the team of lawyers representing Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss the move by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Kise did not return messages seeking comment.