The Division of Justice on Tuesday night time urged a federal decide to oppose a request to nominate a particular grasp to evaluation paperwork seized from the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump earlier this month.

Trump had sued to dam the Justice Division from additional investigating any supplies taken within the raid till a court-appointed particular watchdog is ready to analyze them.

“As an preliminary matter, the previous President lacks standing to hunt judicial reduction or oversight as to Presidential data as a result of these data don’t belong to him,” the DOJ wrote in U.S. District Court docket in southern Florida.

Not solely is appointing a particular grasp “pointless,” however doing so “would considerably hurt essential governmental pursuits, together with nationwide safety pursuits,” the prosecutors wrote.

That hurt might embody impeding the intelligence neighborhood’s “ongoing evaluation of the nationwide safety threat” which will have been brought on by “improper storage of those extremely delicate supplies,” the DOJ argued.

The response got here someday after the DOJ revealed to a federal decide that its evaluation of the seized supplies was full.

A legislation enforcement group recognized a “restricted set” of supplies that could be protected by attorney-client privilege, the DOJ instructed the courtroom on Monday. That privilege usually refers back to the authorized doctrine that protects the confidentiality of communications between an legal professional and their consumer.

The so-called Privilege Evaluation Staff — which is separate from the investigation that led the FBI to go looking Trump’s residence earlier this month — is following a course of to “tackle potential privilege disputes, if any,” the DOJ wrote.

The Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, or ODNI, “can be main an intelligence neighborhood evaluation of the potential threat to nationwide safety that might consequence from the disclosure of those supplies,” in keeping with the submitting.

The DOJ is conducting a felony investigation of the removing of White Home paperwork and their cargo to Trump’s residence at his Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seashore when he left workplace.

By legislation, presidential data should be turned over to the Nationwide Archives and Information Administration when a president leaves workplace.

Earlier than the DOJ posted its late-night response, a bunch of former authorities officers requested the decide to allow them to file a short as “amici curiae” — Latin for “buddies of the courtroom” — arguing in opposition to Trump’s requests.

The group included six former federal prosecutors who served in Republican administrations, in addition to former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who ruled as a Republican however backed President Joe Biden over Trump in 2020.

That is breaking information. Please test again for updates.