1 min
21 September 2022
13:15

On 8 August, FBI officers carried out a search warrant on the Mar-a-Lago residence of former President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida. According to a search warrant made public by a Florida court on 12 August, the agents found 11 classified papers, including those marked as top secret and intended to be only accessible in specific government locations. The investigation was supported by three criminal laws, according to the warrant.

The judge overseeing the Mar-a-Lago case has appointed an independent arbiter – a special master – to review the documents the FBI seized from former President Trump’s Florida home. And that could mean more delays for the FBI investigation into whether any laws were broken.

Dr Brook Spector spoke to Radio Islam International to discuss the process regarding the investigation, the impact on Trump and assigning a special master.

Spector says that Trump’s reasons for still possessing the classified documents were contradictory, and his lawyers are scrambling to cover his contradictions.

Regarding the appointment of the “special master”, Spector explained that the Department of Justice and Trump’s attorneys have agreed that an independent person would look at the seized documents. They would then have to determine if they met the test of being the personal property of Donald Trump, legitimate communications between him and his advisors or material that was directly relevant to the claim that they were an executive privilege, in other words, communication between a sitting president and their advisors.

The Special Master will have the unenviable task of sifting through more than 15 000 documents to ascertain which categories they fell under. The Special Master said the task would be completed by 30 November or just after the midterm elections.

According to Dr Spector, it will not immediately hinder Trump from standing for President again. Still, the likelihood is that it could impede his campaigning, and the several other cases against him could provide the platform for younger senators who would like to be the future Republican nominees to replace Trump.

[LISTEN] to the podcast here

By Annisa Essack
kzn@radioislam.org.za