Special Master in Mar-a-Lago case holds first hearing with DOJ and Trump lawyers Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:00)
The Special Master appointed in former president Trump’s Mar-a-Lago case held his first public hearing today. The judge told both sides he “follows orders and does what he’s told.” Already the former president’s legal team is pushing back on a request for more information. Natalie Brand has more from Washington.

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No one is above the law.

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Federal judge, Raymond Dearie met with lawyers for former president Trump and the department of justice Tuesday for the first time, as he begins his role as Special Master reviewing documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Ahead of the conference, Trump’s team filed a motion pushing back on the Special Master’s request for details regarding his claim that he had declassified seized materials. They say doing so could harm their defense if the former president is indicted. Judge Dearie, while pressing Trump’s attorneys on the issue in court Tuesday, said, “Just don’t have your cake and eat it too.”

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I think it’s reasonable to assume that he has to give the information necessary. If he’s unwilling to do it, then I would think that the judge would simply say, “Okay, for now, we’re going to assume that the documents that say they’re classified are classified.”

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The court order selecting Dearie gives him until November 30th to review the more than 11,000 records and determine if any of the materials are protected by attorney client or executive privilege. It also instructs him to prioritize documents marked as classified. US government lawyers have urged Dearie to hire a third party vendor to scan the seized documents in order to streamline the review process.

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As the Special Master’s work begins, the DOJ has appealed the ruling by a Florida federal judge to pause its review of documents with classified markings, saying it harms its investigation.

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In a filing in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the former president’s team argued for continuing the freeze on the government’s review and called the appointment of the Special Master appropriate and necessary.

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Monday night, former president Trump returned home to Mar-a-Lago for the first time since last month’s FBI search and was greeted by groups of supporters.

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Natalie Brand, CBS News, Washington.