Donald Trump Just Scored A Victory In The FBI Investigation At Mar-A-Lago
Donald Trump has had a very difficult last few weeks. Although polls indicate his popularity has actually increased among his supporters after the FBI raided his Florida property on August 8, it seems the damning news coming out of the investigation just keeps looking worse for the former president, whose Truth Social platform is also in hot water (via Morning Consult).
But it seems the GOP leader may have a bit of good news to celebrate, with his request for a special master, which is basically a third-party, non-partial attorney, being considered by the judge in charge of the case.
Trump initially requested the special master last week, according to CNN, to make sure that private materials seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago are returned to him. At that time, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by the former POTUS himself and then confirmed by the Senate just days after he lost the 2020 election, asked the conservative's legal team to supply more details about why they'd need the special master to intervene in the proceedings (via Politico).
Although reports indicated the Trump legal team did not provide adequate elaboration, it seems Cannon is indeed inclined to consider the request (via CNN).
A final decision has not been made, however.
There is a lot more to come in the FBI investigation
The Republican's request for the oversight of the FBI's investigation comes hot on the heels of a hotly-contested heavily-redacted affidavit having been released that explains to some extent what documents were taken during the controversial search at Mar-a-Lago (via Newsweek). Now, Judge Aileen Cannon says she has "preliminary intent" to allow a special master to review certain documents that were seized — although not those that allegedly contain top-secret information (via NBC News).
The next step? A Thursday hearing will allow both Donald Trump's team and the Department of Justice to share how a special master might be used in the case, and of course, the DOJ may protest the use of the special master all together (via Newsweek).
Meanwhile, Cannon has also asked that the DOJ provide more detail on the documents that the FBI took from the Trump compound on August 8 (via Politico).
It's worth noting that special masters are not commonly employed in these types of cases — but Politico notes that cases against Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani used them.