Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

‘Where’s the beef?’ Special master shows frustration in Trump documents case

Ex-president’s legal team and DoJ spar over contents of seized documents

John Bowden
Washington DC
Wednesday 19 October 2022 16:50 BST
Comments
Donald Trump says he 'can't imagine' being prosecuted for hoarding secret papers

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A special master put in charge of reviewing documents seized by the Justice Department from Donald Trump’s home is growing increasingly frustrated over the lack of progress being made in the case.

CNN reported that Judge Raymond Dearie expressed that frustration on Tuesday during a hearing as the two sides disputed the origin of some of the seized records.

“Where’s the beef? I need some beef,” he was quoted as saying.

The moment was not his only admonition of the attorneys on Tuesday; Mr Dearie also reportedly warned both sides against delay tactics meant to disrupt the short timeframe the special master has to review the seized documents. Mr Dearie was appointed to the case via a controversial decision from a Trump-appointed judge overseeing Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the DoJ, though the agency has appealed his appointment and successfully barred him from reviewing classified materials taken from Mar-a-Lago.

On Tuesday, Mr Dearie reportedly warned attorneys: “I don’t want to be dealing with nonsense objections, nonsense assertions, especially when I have one month to deal with who knows how many assertions.”

Much of Mr Dearie’s work is expected to be completed over the next two months as the Trump team outlines which documents it hopes will be shielded from the DoJ thanks to claims of executive or attorney-client privilege. Despite this, his attorneys have yet to back up his assertion that any of the documents marked “classified” were in fact declassified.

The case erupted in September following the raid of Mar-a-Lago by FBI agents, turning Mr Trump completely against the agency and its personnel and inspiring a wave of angry criticism from the former president.

In the weeks since his assault on the FBI’s integrity began, the agency and Department of Homeland Security have jointly warned of an increase in threats against the lives of US federal agents.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in