Special Master Skeptical Of Trump Attorneys’ Declassification Claims

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Attorneys for former President Donald Trump continued to argue in court Tuesday that the Justice Department cannot shield classified documents seized at Mar-A-Lago from a third-party special master, but they still refuse to back up their argument by saying whether Trump actually declassified any documents—and the special master doesn’t seem pleased about it. The DOJ appealed a ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon that ordered a special master to review all of the documents the government seized from Mar-A-Lago, arguing the agency should be able to shield the classified documents from the special master and continue to use them for its investigation. Dearie pushed back on the Trump team’s refusal to explain any declassifications during a hearing Tuesday afternoon, Politico and Reuters report, saying the attorneys “can’t have your cake and eat it” by arguing the documents may have been declassified but not saying whether they actually were. The special master also suggested the DOJ had provided sufficient evidence that the documents are classified because they’re marked as such, Politico reports, and the burden of proof is on Trump—not the government—to prove that the documents are privileged or declassified.