Special Master Raymond Dearie, who was appointed to review the government documents seized during the FBI search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, has expressed skepticism over the ex-president's lawyers’ attempts to avoid clearly stating whether some of those documents were declassified or not.
Dearie stated that he plans to respect the November 30 deadline set out by US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who appointed him, and will move through the case quickly.
"We’re going to proceed with what I call responsible dispatch," Dearie said.
The special master stated that should the DoJ make a solid case claiming some of the records seized in Mar-a-Lago were classified, and Trump's lawyers fail to clearly state the contrary, his job will come to a conclusion very swiftly.
The ex-president's lawyers have so far refrained from clearly explaining the status of the documents kept in Trump's possession, despite US law requiring presidents to surrender all government papers to the National Archives. They noted, however, that Trump could have declassified the documents, while explaining away their reluctance to say whether he had done so by citing the need to keep their legal defense secret in case of an indictment.
Trump maintains that there were no classified docs in his estate and his lawyers insist that the DoJ has not proved him wrong. But Special Master Raymond Dearie was not moved by their arguments, warning them against engaging in "gamesman-like" behavior. He agreed to move in the case of classified documents with "baby steps," but noted that lawyers will have to show their hand eventually.
"I guess my view of it is, you can’t have your cake and eat it," he said.
Dearie was appointed special master under the request of Trump's legal team in a move that was interpreted by mainstream media as a stalling of proceedings against the former president. The special master will have to review thousands of documents seized during the August FBI raid on Trump's Florida residence.
Only a few seemed to be classified, potentially bearing consequences for Trump. Still, the FBI raid caused a stir in the US, especially among the former president's Republican allies – no former president has been subjected to such a search in US history prior to this August. Trump and his allies dismissed the raid as another witch hunt and politicized persecution of him by the opponents. The former president maintains his innocence.