Federal judge grants Trump's request for a special master to look through docs seized in the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago

• A federal judge granted Trump's request for a special master to review seized docs.
• The special master would screen for "potentially privileged material."

A federal judge in Florida granted former President Donald Trump's request for the court to appoint a special master to go over materials that the FBI seized in its court-authorized search last month of Mar-a-Lago.

"The court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege," US District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote in an order Monday.

The ruling also ordered government investigators to hold off looking over the seized documents until the special master reviews them.

Last month, the FBI executed a search warrant at the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and recovered several boxes containing classified records that Trump took with him from the White House once he left office, according to the court records made public.

The search unearthed more than two dozen boxes containing some "11,000 documents and 1,800 other items from the office and storage room," according to court filings. Some of the boxes were distinctly marked as "top secret," Insider's Sonam Sheth reported.

Some of those materials include private and potentially sensitive documents like medical, tax and accounting records, the court said.

"In addition to being deprived of potentially significant personal documents, which alone creates a real harm, plaintiff faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public," Judge Cannon wrote in the order.

The DOJ had argued that the agency has had its own "filter team" review the documents to identify privileged documents. The agency argued also that Trump's personal documents and items being part of the seizure were relevant as they could be evidence of "commingling" personal items with classified documents. Having a separate special master would only "impede" its criminal inquiry, the agency argued.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti responded to the judge's order, tweeting it "sets a problematic precedent."

He along with DOJ veteran Andrew Weissmann, who served as a lead prosecutor in former special counsel Robert S. Mueller's office, said the decision could be appealed, though they noted it would slow down the DOJ's process.

Weissmann tweeted it would leave the DOJ "in the untenable position of appealing a plainly wrong decision and enduring the unknown delay that entails OR just trying to speed through the Spec Master process."

Mariotti also said that not appealing and slogging through with the special master "would be best for the case but would set a bad precedent for DOJ."

Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential records must be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration upon leaving office.

The Justice Department is now investigating whether Trump violated any laws pertaining to the handling of government documents. A legal analyst has previously said he could receive a 10-year prison sentence if he's convicted of violating the Espionage Act, a law that dates back to World War I that essentially bars anyone from sharing or disseminating information that could potentially harm or disadvantage the US.

Trump has so far denied all assertions of wrongdoing, saying that he had "declassified" the documents. He also said that "everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.