Donald J. Trump v. United States of America (case no. 22-81294-CIV-CANNON), was a lawsuit filed on August 22, 2022, by former U.S. president Donald Trump in the Southern District of Florida. He sought the appointment of a special master to review materials seized on August 8, 2022, during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, a part of the investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents.
Trump requested that the special master review the seized materials, some of which were classified, for potential attorney-client or executive privilege. The case was assigned to District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee. On September 1, Cannon ordered the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to release the previously sealed detailed property list of the seized materials. She ordered the DOJ to halt its review of all materials on September 5 and appointed Raymond J. Dearie, senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, as special master on September 15.
On September 16, the DOJ appealed the ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. On September 22, the appeals court granted the DOJ's request to restore investigators' access to the classified files that had been seized during the Mar-a-Lago search and block the special master from access to them.
On December 1, the appeals court ended the special master review entirely, allowed the government to use all the documents in its investigation, and directed the lower court to dismiss Trump's lawsuit. The court ruled that Cannon lacked equitable jurisdiction to appoint a special master, that Cannon's decision did not meet the stringent standard for the judicial branch to intervene in ongoing investigations by the executive branch, and that the court would not make a special exception for former presidents. Trump did not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Cannon dismissed the case on December 12, 2022, for lack of jurisdiction.
On July 15, 2024, as part of Donald Trump's trial for withholding classified documents after his departure from the White House, Judge Aileen Cannon annulled the entire procedure — considering that the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith was illegal.
Background
Following the end of Trump's presidency, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) became aware that Trump had taken government documents, including classified documents, to his residence at Mar-a-Lago. In 2022, NARA notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Their investigation resulted in the FBI executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022. They searched Trump's office, residence, and a storage area, and seized 13,000 government documents, some of them with top secret/sensitive compartmented information (TS/SCI), top secret, secret, and confidential classification markings.
Trump motion for appointment of special master On August 22, 2022, Trump filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida seeking appointment of a special master to review all material seized on August 8 and to determine if any should be returned to him. The case was assigned to District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee. In court papers, Trump did not suggest he had any "standing order" to declassify materials, a defense he had initially proposed. Trump also suggested that the Presidential Records Act is not criminally enforceable.
A few days later, Cannon said she was inclined to approve Trump's request. Legal experts believed Trump's demand for a special master was a strategic error, according to The New York Times.
In a subsequent filing, the Justice Department reported that the government's review of seized materials had already been completed. It explained that the FBI filter team had finished their examination of documents; "identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information"; and were following relevant procedures to deal with privilege disputes. Criminal investigators would not be allowed to access or review such privileged documents. The completion of the document review by the government was seen as weakening Trump's efforts to get a special master appointed to review the materials recovered from him.
The DOJ also confirmed that they and the US intelligence community were conducting a classification review and damage assessment. They had been conducting a rolling review of the classified records taken from Mar-a-Lago since mid-May to determine their classification level and mitigate any immediate risk of the documents being held there. The filing also revealed that some of the recovered materials were so sensitive in nature that "FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents".
DOJ response On August30, the Department of Justice filed its response along with a detailed timeline of events leading up to the search. According to The New York Times, the 36-page filing "made clear that prosecutors are now unmistakably focused on the possibility that Mr. Trump and those around him took criminal steps to obstruct their investigation".
The DOJ stated that, when they were present in the storage room at Mar-a-Lago during the June 3 handover of classified documents, they "developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation". The DOJ stated that Trump's counsel or custodian had never asserted that Trump declassified the documents or asserted executive privilege over them, but rather "handled them in a manner that suggested counsel believed that the documents were classified: the production included a single Redweld envelope, double-wrapped in tape, containing the document". The DOJ claimed that Trump's lawyers "explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes that remained in the storage room" to confirm whether classified documents remained there. Though Trump's lawyers certified they had conducted a "diligent search" following the May 11 subpoena to prepare to hand over all subpoenaed material on June 3, the DOJ said that the FBI's search on August 8 "cast serious doubt" on those claims.
The DOJ stated that Trump lacked standing over presidential records since they are considered government property under the Presidential Records Act. They urged the judge to reject Trump's executive privilege claims: “The former President cites no caseand the government is aware of nonein which executive privilege has been successfully invoked to prohibit the sharing of documents within the Executive Branch." The DOJ argued that appointing a special master was "unnecessary" and would impede the ongoing criminal investigation and delay the intelligence community's classification review.
The DOJ attached a photo of a spread of classified documents laid out on the floor as evidence. Multiple red and yellow cover sheets bore classified markings of “Top Secret," “Secret" and "Sensitive Compartmented Information." Some were White House records marked "Confidential". Other records were marked with ORCON and NOFORN controls. Another "Top Secret" document had HCS-P/SI/TK control markings, indicating that they included details of human sources, electronic surveillance, and spy satellites.
The DOJ included a copy of its May subpoena to Trump from a DC federal grand jury after authorization for it to be made public from Chief Judge Beryl Howell in the DC District Court.
The DOJ also filed a more detailed Receipt for Property and a summary of the government's search, both under seal; on August 31, the News Media filed a motion opposing the sealing.
Trump reply On August 31, Trump's lawyers filed a 19-page reply. They claimed that "this 'discovery' [of classified information within the material recovered in January] was to be fully anticipated given the very nature of Presidential records", as such records often "contain sensitive information". They referred to the place where the documents were found at Mar-a-Lago as a "secure setting" and said it was "unjustified" for the government to "criminaliz[e]" the former president's possession of classified documents. Given their claim that it is not a crime for Trump to keep classified material in his personal residence, they said that if NARA believed its January 2022 negotiations had been unsuccessful in recovering all material, NARA should have asked Trump once again for his cooperation rather than referring the matter to the Justice Department. Trump's attorneys characterized the months they had resisted the government's efforts to reclaim his presidential records as the "standard give-and-take between former presidents and (the National Archives and Records Administration) regarding Presidential library contents."
They also said that, should Trump's request for a special master be granted, he "agrees that it would be appropriate for the special master to possess a Top Secret/SCI security clearance". They rejected the DOJ's assertion that it had screened out any attorney-client privileged records, arguing that their filter team had "virtually unchecked discretion" in addressing potential privilege disputes. Trump's lawyers requested copies of the seized materials, the search warrant, and unredacted copies of the underlying application materials.
Hearing on September 1, 2022 The DOJ argued that the FBI had already reviewed 520 pages from 64 document sets to look for privileged material and that Trump had no right to keep them or exert executive privilege over them, an assertion that Cannon pushed back against. Trump's lawyers argued the government had misconstrued the role of the Presidential Records Act. They also stated that Trump, while president, was allowed to designate records as "personal" outside the review of a court. They compared the conflict over the documents with an "overdue library book scenario".
Cannon ordered the DOJ to release the detailed property list they had previously filed under seal. Neither the DOJ nor Trump's team objected to making it public.
Release of detailed property list The detailed property list was unsealed on September 2. The list showed that Trump had intermingled classified items with other items, like documents and photographs without classification markings, news clippings, unspecified gifts, items of clothing, and a book. A box found in Trump's office is listed as containing "43 empty folders with classified banners; 28 empty folders labeled 'Return to Staff Secretary/Mili[t]ary Aide'; 24 government documents marked confidential, secret or top secret; 99 news articles and other printed media; and 69 government documents or photos that were not classified."
District judge's ruling and appeals court's reversal
Judge Cannon halts criminal investigation and orders appointment of special master In a ruling on September 5, Cannon ordered DOJ to halt its review of the materials while allowing the intelligence community to continue its assessment of the potential harm caused to national security. She announced that she would grant Trump's request for a special master to review the seized documents for attorney-client and executive privilege and ordered DOJ and Trump to file a joint list of candidates "with the requisite security clearances and legal expertise" by September 9.