Legal battle continues over Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents

The Director of National Intelligence stated her office will conduct a national security risk assessment on the documents taken from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. According to a letter sent to the chairs of the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees, DNI Avril Haines also stated her office is working with the Justice Department to facilitate a classification review.

Haines wrote in the letter that the DNI “will also lead an Intelligence Community (IC) assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents.”

“It’s no surprise that the same politicians who weaponized the intel community against President Trump with selective and dishonest leaks are giddy by the prospects of doing it yet again,” Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich tweeted in response.

At the same time, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is asking the Justice Department to submit a more detailed list of the materials seized during the Aug. 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago. She said it was her “preliminary intent” to grant Trump’s request for a special master to review all the documents. A hearing is set for Thursday. 

Lawyers for the Justice Department said in a court filing Monday that members of the privilege review team went over the documents from Mar-a-Lago and found “a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information.”

The redacted affidavit used to obtain the Mar-a-Lago search warrant was unsealed Friday and revealed classified material had already been obtained from Trump’s Florida estate. FBI agents told the court they believed there was more to find. 

“Further, there is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at the PREMISES. There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the PREMISES,” the FBI agent who applied for the warrant said in the affidavit. The agent’s name remains under seal. 

Reuters contributed to this report.