The US Department of Justice on Monday validated the candidacy of a judge proposed by the Trump team to examine the documents seized from the former president’s home in Mar-a-Lago on August 8.
Donald Trump wins a stage victory. For several days, the ex-president had been calling for the appointment of a special judge to review documents seized by the FBI at his home in Mar-a-Lago. The Biden administration wanted to avoid this appointment at all costs, but a federal judge – Aileen Cannon, appointed by Donald Trump – finally ruled and ordered that an independent expert be appointed.
And on Monday, the US Department of Justice accepted the candidacy of a judge that the team of donald trump proposed for this position. This is Raymond Dearie, 78, federal judge in Brooklyn and close to the former president.
His appointment as a special judge must now be validated by Judge Cannon. It must also define the parameters of its mission and its full access, or not, to classified documents that the FBI says it seized from Donald Trump’s residence. The Trump clan had already rejected the first two nominees put forward by the department, retired federal judges Barbara Jones and Thomas Griffith.
This step is unlikely to calm relations between the Department of Justice and Donald Trump, which are increasingly stormy. According to information from New York Timesthe Department of Justice has issued 40 subpoenas in one week against former members of the White House during the Trump administration.
He also seized the phones of two close advisers to the former president, a sign that the investigation into the assault on the Capitol by Trumpist activists on January 6, 2021 is accelerating.