Trump lawyers blast DOJ opposition to 'special master' appointment

Lawyers for Donald Trump have filed a response to the Department of Justice's arguments against appointing a "special master" to review documents the FBI took from the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month.

The DOJ filed it's response to Trump's request on Tuesday evening, expressing opposition to the special master appointment and alleging there may have been some effort to conceal classified documents from the government following an earlier FBI seizure.

DOJ prosecutors said the agency "developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed" from Mar-a-Lago and "that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation."

Trump's lawyers in turn accused the DOJ of asserting sole authority to review the documents that would likely play a significant role in the ongoing case.

"The United States Attorney’s Office, has filed an extraordinary document with this Court, suggesting that the DOJ, and the DOJ alone, should be entrusted with the responsibility of evaluating its unjustified pursuit of criminalizing a former President’s possession of personal and Presidential records in a secure setting," they wrote, according to Fox News.

"[T]he Government twists the framework of responding to a motion for a Special Master into an all-encompassing challenge to any judicial consideration, presently or in the future, of any aspect of its unprecedented behavior in this investigation," they continued. "Even yesterday, the Government’s Response gratuitously included a photograph of allegedly classified materials, pulled from a container and spread across the floor for dramatic effect."

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, on Saturday declared her "preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case." That hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 1.