Prosecutors believe Trump’s home search uncovered possible privileged documents

• On Monday, federal prosecutors claimed in a court statement that they had found a “small” number of documents
• It was found during their search of former President Donald Trump’s home this month that might be protected by attorney-client privilege.

With this new information, Trump’s legal team may have more grounds to ask for a special master to assess the materials the FBI confiscated during their unusual search of Trump’s Florida resort on August 8.

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In high-stakes cases, the court may appoint a special master to evaluate documents that may be protected by attorney-client privilege and make sure they are not unlawfully viewed by investigators.

On the weekend, US District Judge Aileen Cannon for the Southern District of Florida issued an order indicating that she was leaning toward appointing a special master.

She directed the Department of Justice to reply to Trump’s request and to give, under secrecy, a more comprehensive inventory of the materials confiscated from Trump Tower.

The Justice Department confirmed on Monday that it will abide by the request and file the documents under secrecy by Tuesday.

Prosecutors stated in their filing that the filter team was complying with the department’s protocols as outlined in the warrant about any documents that might be protected by attorney-client privilege.

Classification reviews are being conducted on the seized materials by the department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the statement said, with the latter also leading a “intelligence community assessment of the potential risk to national security” should the documents ever be made public.

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s order to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago house in Palm Beach was a major development in one of several federal and state investigations into Trump’s time in office and business dealings.

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The Department of Justice is looking into whether or not Trump obstructed justice by trying to hide his illegal retention of classified national defence material from investigators.

The Justice Department took the unprecedented step last week of releasing a redacted version of the court filing that explained the evidence it used to convince Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart to grant a search warrant.

It was exposed that Trump had kept files containing sensitive information about intelligence gathering and covert human sources.

In January, after Trump returned 15 boxes of presidency records he had held at Mar-a-Lago, the US National Archives learned he had maintained secret materials.

It was this month that the FBI conducted a search of his home and removed additional materials, including eleven more boxes of classified documents.