Trump v. United States (2022)
He sought the appointment of a special master to review materials seized on August 8, 2022, during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, a part of the investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents.On September 1, Cannon ordered the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to release the previously sealed detailed property list of the seized materials.On July 15, 2024, as part of Donald Trump's trial for withholding classified documents after his departure from the White House Judge Aileen Cannon annulled the entire procedure, considering that the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith was illegal.[22] They had been conducting a rolling review of the classified records taken from Mar-a-Lago since mid-May to determine their classification level and mitigate any immediate risk of the documents being held there.[26][27][28][29][30] According to The New York Times, the 36-page filing "made clear that prosecutors are now unmistakably focused on the possibility that Mr. Trump and those around him took criminal steps to obstruct their investigation"."[30] The DOJ argued that appointing a special master was "unnecessary" and would impede the ongoing criminal investigation and delay the intelligence community's classification review.Another "Top Secret" document had HCS-P/SI/TK control markings, indicating that they included details of human sources, electronic surveillance, and spy satellites.[45][41] A box found in Trump's office is listed as containing "43 empty folders with classified banners; 28 empty folders labeled 'Return to Staff Secretary/Mili[t]ary Aide'; 24 government documents marked confidential, secret or top secret; 99 news articles and other printed media; and 69 government documents or photos that were not classified."[45] In a ruling on September 5, Cannon ordered DOJ to halt its review of the materials while allowing the intelligence community to continue its assessment of the potential harm caused to national security."[47] Cannon noted that the filter team had screened out medical documents, correspondence on taxes, and accounting information among "[p]ersonal effects without evidentiary value" as well as 500 pages of material potentially subject to attorney-client privilege.Stanford law professor David Alan Sklansky emphasized the contradictions with a ruling that allows "the executive branch to use the files [to assess the risk to national security] while blocking it from using them for an active criminal investigation.[50] When Cannon struck two sealed motions filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith's team, she ordered him to address the basis in law of a Washington, D.C. "out-of-district grand jury" that was investigating the Trump case.[55] On September 15, 2022, Cannon appointed Dearie special master, tasked him to review all documents seized in the August 8 search, and ruled that Trump would have to pay the costs.[53][59][60] On September 15, Cannon refused to reconsider her rulings blocking the use of any of the material for investigative purposes pending the special master's review.She denied even the DOJ's request for a limited stay to allow investigators to once more access the approximately 100 documents bearing classification markings.The three-judge panel unanimously declared it was in the public interest for DOJ "to determine whether any of the records were improperly disclosed, risking national security damage.[73][74][75] During the hearing, Dearie said that he "can't allow litigation strategy to dictate the outcome of [his review and] recommendations to Judge Cannon", referring to vague declassification claims by Trump's side.[77][78] DOJ was also instructed to submit electronic copies of all unclassified documents to both Dearie and the Trump legal team by September 26.