Here are the 4 people who Trump and the DOJ proposed to be the special master to review the Mar-a-Lago documents
- A judge granted Trump's request for a special master to review the Mar-a-Lago materials.
- The DOJ is appealing the decision, but each side submitted its picks on Friday.
The Department of Justice and lawyers for former President Donald Trump each proposed two people to be appointed special master to review the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago, according to a new court filing.
The Justice Department proposed Barbara S. Jones, a retired judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and a partner at Bracewell LLP, and Thomas B. Griffith, a retired Circuit Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and a current lecturer at Harvard.
Trump's proposed picks were Raymond J. Dearie, a former US attorney and former Chief Judge of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and Paul Huck, Jr., founder of the Huck Law Firm and former deputy attorney general for the state of Florida.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday granted Trump's request to appoint a special master to review the records seized in the court-authorized search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8. The Justice Department appealed the decision on Thursday.
Jones, one of the DOJ's picks, was appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton in 1995 and retired from New York's Southern District after 17 years. Jones also served as the special master in cases involving two of Trump's former personal attorneys, Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani. The DOJ's other pick, Griffith, was appointed to the DC circuit by former President George W. Bush in 2005 and served until 2020.
As for Trump's suggested special masters, Dearie was appointed to New York's Eastern District by former President Ronald Reagan in 1986, serving as chief judge from 2007 to 2011. Dearie was also one of the judges who signed off on the surveillance of Trump campaign aide Carter Page during the Russia investigation, according to The New York Times.
Trump's other choice, Huck, served as general counsel to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist from 2007 to 2008 and is a former partner at the law firm Jones Day. Huck is also listed as a contributor to the Federalist Society, a national organization of conservative lawyers.
It's unclear if the DOJ's appeal will be successful, but some legal experts questioned the decision to grant Trump's request for a special master.
A former DOJ official told Insider's Warren Rojas the special master's task of sorting through the documents would be "the worst thing in the world."
"No one wants this assignment," Barbara McQuade, the former US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said, adding: "It's time-consuming. It's thankless. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't."
She said there's really only one upside: "I suppose you get paid."
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