Trump abandons 'attorney-client privilege' claims regarding some docs taken from Mar-a-Lago
Donald Trump has backed off his claim that some of the documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago are protected by attorney-client and legal-work-product privilege, Bloomberg reports.
"Trump has withdrawn the claims over nine documents, according to a court filing Monday from the Justice Department. Those records include several dozen pages titled 'The President's Calls' and contents of folders with labels that appear related to correspondence with the National Archives and Records Administration, according to sealed logs that were briefly made available on the public docket," Bloomberg's report stated.
"Although the legal fight over thousands of other documents seized from his Florida estate is far from over, Trump's decision to withdraw attorney-client claims touches one of the core issues he raised in pushing for an outside special master to review the materials. Trump had questioned the government's ability to weed out privileged legal work and keep that separate from the main investigation team," the report added.
The Justice Department says its lawyers worked with Trump's legal team and resolved issues of attorney-client or attorney-work-product privilege without the need for a court-appointed special master.
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Trump is still fighting the DOJ over whether some of the documents flagged by the government's "Privilege Review Team" should be kept from the DOJ for other reasons.
The unprecedented FBI raid on Trump's Palm Beach, Florida Mar-a-Lago home saw thousands of government records, including the highly classified materials, retrieved.
Much of it was mixed together into dozens of boxes with Trump personal records and other things like clothing and media clippings.
The government has maintained that Trump has no right to any of the official government records, which belong to the National Archives, and especially not to the classified materials.
It has not detailed what is in the classified documents, but media reports say some are extremely restricted, and the Washington Post reported that one deals with a foreign country's nuclear program and nuclear defenses.
The Justice Department cited the law on retaining defense materials and the law against destruction of government records for the raid.
It also cited obstruction of justice, after Trump and his attorneys told the FBI in June there were no more government or classified records in Mar-a-Lago.
With additional reporting by AFP
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