Judge plans to appoint special master in Trump records case Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:02)
And the Department of Justice is working to figure out just how large a national security risk, the classified documents that former president Trump took to Mar-a-Lago may pose.

Speaker 2: (00:11)
Yeah, that’s right. This coming just a day after a judge released the affidavit, which explained why Trump’s Florida home was searched in the first place. ABC’s, Christine Sloan explains.

Christine Sloan: (00:24)
The director of national intelligence will conduct an assessment of any potential risk to national security that may have resulted from classified documents being held at Mar-a-Lago. Democratic house committee chairs had pushed for a review saying after seeing the unsealed affidavit, “It is critical that the intelligence community move swiftly to assess and, if necessary, to mitigate the damage done.” The National Archive said that after several requests, Trump’s team handed over 15 boxes of materials in January, including 184 documents marked classified. The DOJ concluded it needed a search warrant because it believed more national defense information was still at the former president’s home.

Speaker 4: (01:06)
Despite repeated efforts for the government to have that government property returned, the former president and his team refused to comply.

Christine Sloan: (01:18)
The newly unsealed affidavit used in the request for that warrant is highly redacted. The DOJ explained those redactions writing, “The government has well founded concerns that steps may be taken to frustrate or otherwise interfere with this investigation if facts in the affidavit were prematurely disclosed.”

Speaker 5: (01:37)
Anyone involved in the process of moving these documents, storing these documents is definitely and should be concerned.

Christine Sloan: (01:44)
Former president Trump has been critical of the investigation and claims he did nothing wrong. But despite his criticism of the redactions in the affidavit, his legal team did not argue for its release in court.

Christine Sloan: (01:56)
Meanwhile, a federal judge appears to be leaning toward appointing a special master to oversee the review of evidence recovered from the Mar-a-Largo search. Arguments on the issue have been scheduled for September 1st. Christine Sloan, ABC News, New York.