The special master reviewing potentially classified documents found at former President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago estate asked on Thursday that Trump’s lawyers present evidence to corroborate the ex-President’s claim that the FBI planted the documents there.
“This submission shall be [Trump’s] final opportunity to raise any factual dispute as to the completeness and accuracy of the detailed property inventory,” Federal Judge Raymond Dearie wrote, requiring Trump’s legal team to make a list of the items “that plaintiff asserts were not seized from the premises” by September 30.
The special master added that they could also submit corrections to the government’s list of seized items.
Dearie was placed as the special master in the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s possible mishandling of White House documents after the former President asked for an independent third party to review the documents and determine which records fall under executive privilege or attorney-client privilege.
Trump has claimed multiple times that the FBI planted evidence.
“Did they drop anything into those piles” of records taken from Mar-a-Lago, “or did they do it later?” Trump asked Sean Hannity during an appearance on the Fox News show on Wednesday.
He later told Hannity that he did not believe there was a video of an alleged crimes.
Trump alluded to the FBI planting evidence as early on as two days after the FBI executed a search warrant to enter his Palm Beach, Florida, estate on August 8.
At the time, he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, “Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be alone without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, ‘planting.'”
“The problem that you have is they go into rooms — they won’t let anybody near — they wouldn’t even let them in the same building. Did they drop anything on those piles? Or did they do it later?” Trump added.
