Trump docs probe: Tensions flare over special master process

WASHINGTON (AP) — The parallel “special master” process spawned by the FBI search of Donald Trump’s Florida estate has slowed the Justice Department's criminal investigation and exposed simmering tensions between department prosecutors and lawyers for the former president.

The probe into the presence of top-secret government information at Mar-a-Lago continues. But barbed comments in the past week's court filings have laid bare deep disagreements related to the special master's work And the filings have made clear that a process the Trump team initially sought has not been playing to the president's advantage.

A look at where things stand:

WHO IS THE SPECIAL MASTER AND WHAT IS HIS ROLE?

A federal judge in Florida appointed at the Trump team's request an independent arbiter to inspect the thousands of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago and to weed out from the investigation any that might be protected by claims of either attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.

That arbiter, formally known as a special master, is Raymond Dearie. He's a former federal prosecutor who was appointed a U.S. District judge in Brooklyn by then-President Ronald Reagan. He also has served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

However, since his current appointment by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the scope of his responsibilities has been hemmed in by a federal appeals court. That court last week ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Justice Department, concluding that it did not have to share with Dearie for his review the roughly 100 documents with classified markings taken during the Aug. 8 search.

That leaves for his evaluation the roughly 11,000 other, unclassified documents — which a Trump lawyer said actually total roughly 200,000 pages — recovered by the FBI.

WHAT...