Justice Department Tells Supreme Court Not to Get Involved in Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago Documents Case
Justice Department urged the Supreme Court not to interfere with the federal government's probe of Donald Trump and the Mar-a-Lago documents found in his Florida residence.
The former president keeps asserting that he is not entitled to have the court put the materials before an independent arbiter.
ABC News Go reported that the Justice Department noted in their latest filing that Trump has no "plausible claims of ownership or privilege in the documents bearing classification markings."
The DOJ added that Trump has never presented in court that he declassified any documents or presented any evidence to support those claims. The Justice Department also masserted that Trump has "no basis to demand special master review."
The former president's legal team will have to file a reply to the department's brief in the next 48 hours.
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Justice Department on Mar-a-Lago Documents
The Supreme Court is looking at an emergency appeal from Trump, asking it to overturn a lower court ruling and allow a special master to review the around 100 documents with classified markings, which were taken from Mar-a-Lago.
The three-panel judges from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the Justice Department's argument that there was no legal basis for the special master to conduct their own review of the classified Mar-a-Lago documents, according to a PBS News Hour report.
Lawyers of the former president said that it was needed for the special master to access the classified records to "determine whether documents with classification markings are classified." They also noted that the special master will determine whether those are personal records or Presidential records.
The Justice Department also dismissed Trump's assertion that as a president, he had absolute declassification authority.
Trump's own lawyers have repeatedly raised the same assertion but avoided making the claim the former president took steps to declassify the records.
Mar-a-Lago Documents
Trump also went on to accuse the Federal Bureau of Investigation of planting evidence and suggested that documents with nuclear secrets had been seized in the raid.
Trump noted in a Business Insider report that the FBI plant documents while also claiming that other presidents had mishandled classified information yet faced no legal consequences.
Lawyers of Trump argued that some of the documents are private and should be returned under privilege rules. However, DOJ officials noted that they have sorted the seized materials and have found only a small number fell into those categories.
The former president's lawyers did not present any evidence to support Trump's claims that the evidence was planted in the raid.
Fact-checkers also noted that the former president's claim that former presidents have mishandled government records after leaving office is "misleading."
Analysts said that Trump's allegations are aimed at "riling up" those who support him ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: DOJ Urges Supreme Court To Reject Trump Request Over Mar-a-Lago Documents - from MSNBC