Hearing over Mar-a-Lago documents held in Brooklyn Federal Court
NEW YORK -- The legal battle over the documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago played out in Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday.
For the first time, the special master appointed to review the documents, Judge Raymond Dearie, held a hearing with former president Donald Trump's lawyers and representatives from the Department of Justice.
Trump's team filed a motion pushing back on the judge's request for information regarding Trump's claim that he had declassified the seized materials.
Trump's lawyers say doing so could harm their defense if the former president is indicted.
"If the former president wants this review now, then 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, OK, for now, we're going to assume that the documents that say they're classified are classified," CBS News legal contributor Rebecca Roiphe said.
Dearie has until Nov. 30 to review more than 11,000 records and determine if any of them are protected by attorney-client or executive privilege.
In a separate court filing in Florida, Trump's lawyers asked a federal judge to continue a freeze on the Justice Department's own review of the documents until the special master finishes his work.
