Trump’s legal team has urged judicial authorities to uphold an order that has temporarily halted key aspects of the investigation into the presence of top-secret material at his Mar a Lago estate.
His lawyers described the seized documents as “alleged” classified material, hinting they do not accept the ministry’s claim that the August 8 raid turned up sensitive, top-secret documents.
They also said there was no evidence that any of the documents were leaked to anyone, and that at least some of the material belonged to Trump, not the Justice Department.
Their position, contained in court documents, underscores the disagreement between the former president’s legal team and the US government over the investigation.
The investigation hit a snag last week after a federal judge granted a request by Trump’s lawyers to appoint an independent lawyer to review the seized materials and temporarily barred the department from examining the documents for the purpose of the investigation.
The Justice Department urged the judge to overturn his decision and said it would appeal.
But Trump’s legal team said the ruling was a “reasonable interim step toward restoring order out of chaos” and urged the judge to uphold it.
