U.S. News

Judge says Trump does not have to comment on accuracy of DOJ inventory

By Matt Bernardini   |   Sept. 29, 2022 at 1:09 PM
Former President Donald Trump argued in a new court filing that he shouldn't have to declare whether the DOJ's updated inventory of items seized from Mar-a-Lago is accurate. File Photo by Alex Wroblewski/UPI

Sept. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said that Former President Donald Trump does not have to declare in court whether or not the Justice Department's updated inventory of the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago is accurate.

In response to Trump's suggestion that the FBI planted evidence during its search on Aug. 8, Special Master Raymond Dearie had said that Trump had to submit a declaration of the accuracy of the Justice Department's inquiry.

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However, Cannon said Thursday that Trump's team would not be required to confirm the accuracy of the list.

"There shall be no separate requirement on Plaintiff at this stage, prior to the review of any of the seized materials. ... The Court's Appointment Order did not contemplate that obligation," Cannon wrote.

Trump's letter, which was written Sunday and made public on Wednesday night, argued that Dearie had only asked for a declaration from a government official and not from Trump's side. Trump also said that he had no access to the documents at issue.

"Additionally, the Plaintiff currently has no means of accessing the documents bearing classification markings, which would be necessary to complete any such certification by September 30, the currently proposed date of completion," Trump said.

On Monday the Justice Department submitted a slightly revised inventory of the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago, along with a declaration supporting the accuracy of the new list, as part of the special master review.

The new list adds 55 items to the more than 11,000 documents and photographs that were seized. The differences mostly concern the quantity of non-classified government documents and Trump's collection of magazine and newspaper articles.

The new list also removed two empty folders with "CLASSIFIED" banners in the box. There are now 46 empty folders with classified markings.

"In order to ensure that the Detailed Property Inventory was accurate, I and FBI personnel working under my direction conducted an additional review and recount of the Seized Materials in order to make this declaration," a supervisory special FBI agent who was present for the search wrote in Monday's filing. "That additional review and recount resulted in some minor revisions to the Detailed Property Inventory."