Trump lawyers' arguments are already getting into 'very bizarre territory': NYT's Maggie Haberman
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Tuesday said she was surprised by some of the arguments that former President Donald Trump's legal team is making about his rights to hold onto top-secret government documents even after he's no longer in office.
Appearing on CNN, Haberman told host John Berman that it was puzzling to see the Trump lawyers try to assert potential executive privilege over some of the documents even though Trump hasn't been president for over a year and a half now.
"The request for the Special Master does not reference attorney-client privilege," Haberman noted. "It references executive privilege. The Biden administration has already said, previously in other issues, other rulings in this, that Trump does not have a right to privilege."
Berman also expressed bewilderment at this line of argument.
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"It's hard to wrap your head around, this is new legal territory," he said. "Say the judge does appoint a Special Master and the Special Master does say this document is covered by executive privilege. Normally, with a Special Master, what that would mean, the document would be returned to the defendant or the person being investigated here. But Donald Trump doesn't own these documents."
"No, the presidential privilege, executive privilege apply to the executive branch," Haberman concurred. "And he is not the executive anymore. So, again, we are getting into very bizarre territory, if it ends up going that way. it's hard to imagine what it ends up looking like."
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