Trump opposes verification of property listing seized from Florida estate – court documents

Sept 28 (Reuters) – Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have rejected a federal judge’s directive to file a sworn statement on whether they believe the government’s list of property taken from Trump’s Florida estate is accurate .

The former president’s legal team told Senior U.S. Judge Raymond Deirry, who is reviewing a federal raid on Florida property, that they believe Deirry has no right to ask, according to a letter publicly filed Wednesday by Trump’s lawyers. They present such a document.

The former president has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the FBI planted it.

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Letter from Trump’s lawyer, dated September. On Jan. 25, another federal judge’s order appointing Derie to conduct an external review of the material required only the administration to submit a statement about the accuracy of the list, not Trump.

Trump’s lawyers also said they could not verify the accuracy of the property listing because they currently do not have access to information marked classified in the raid.

Dearie has ordered the former president to file an application by October. 7. Dearie has not resolved the objection.

Derie’s order requires Trump to list all items that were confiscated but not on the list, any items that were not confiscated and were incorrectly listed, and any possible errors on the list regarding the location of the confiscated items.

Trump’s lawyers also said in a letter to the court on Wednesday that the roughly 11,000 records seized by federal agents included nearly 200,000 pages. The sheer volume hindered their ability to hire outside vendors who could upload and host documents so they could be seen by parties involved in the case, they said.

At Trump’s request and despite Justice Department objections, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appointed Dirie to review more than 11,000 seizures from Mar-a-Lago in August Records. 8. He must clear any records that might be subject to attorney-client or executive privilege, a legal doctrine that protects some White House communications from disclosure.

Cannon originally ordered Dearie to include about 100 documents marked confidential in his review, but that decision was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit after the Justice Department appealed.

The appeals court also ruled that the Justice Department could immediately resume using the classified records for ongoing criminal investigations after Cannon barred them from doing so.

Trump has resisted efforts to extract classified material from censorship. Trump said in a recent interview with Fox News that he had declassified it all, a claim his lawyers did not make in official court filings.

Trump can still appeal the 11th Circuit ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, but so far has not done so.

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Reporting by Jacqueline Thomson; Editing by Richard Pullen

Our Standard: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jacqueline Thomson

Thomson Reuters

Based in Washington, DC, Jacqueline Thomsen reports on legal news related to policy, courts and the legal profession. Follow her on Twitter @jacq_thomsen and email jacqueline.thomsen@thomsonreuters.com.

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