Trump set to ask court for ‘special master’ to review Mar-a-Lago evidence

Donald Trump is expected to seek the appointment of a special court official to determine whether materials that the FBI seized from his Florida resort can be used in a criminal investigation, according to his lead attorney Jim Trusty and two sources familiar with the matter.

The motion would be the first formal legal action by the former president after federal agents last week confiscated about 30 boxes of highly-sensitive documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort in connection with an investigation into the unauthorized retention of government secrets.

Trump would argue that the court should appoint a special master - usually a retired lawyer or judge - because the FBI potentially seized privileged materials in the search, and the justice department should not itself decide what it can use in its investigation, the sources said.

The ex-president's lead attorney, Trusty, said on the Mark Levin Show on Friday evening that he was anticipating a motion that would force the justice department to disclose what "pre-raid" instructions were given to the FBI agents who executed the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago.

Trusty, a former chief of the organized crime section at the justice department, also said on the radio show that a court filing could come that evening, saying: "It's probably going to be more like hours" - though there was no entry on the docket as of early Saturday afternoon.

Why Trump is filing a motion now, nearly two weeks after the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, was not clear. The former president and his allies have previously moved quickly to request special masters, including when the offices of his former lawyer Michael Cohen were searched in 2018.