Trump demands independent review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago

WASHINGTON (TND) — Former President Donald Trump is now asking for an independent review of whatever documents the Federal Bureau of Investigation has after they seized multiple boxes from his Mar-a-Lago estate.

This comes as the Thursday deadline nears for the government to suggest potential redactions to the legal affidavit which was used in guiding the search of Trump’s Florida home.

Trump’s legal team is demanding that a judge intervene in the review of those reportedly 300 potentially sensitive documents. They’re requesting a "special master" be assigned to oversee matters in light of what Trump’s team calls "shockingly aggressive" actions by the government, arguing it "cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes."

In the meantime, much of it remains a mystery.

“Trump is using the vacuum of information to fill it with his own favorite conspiracy theories,” said Peter Loge, associate professor at George Washington University and Director of the Project on Ethics in Political Communication. “There are very good legal reasons to not release all of this information. The Justice Department has to keep some things quiet and one answer is 'we have to let the process play out, we don’t know' and that has to be okay but in the face of a lack of information a lot of people step up and say, 'aha, this clearly means that.'"

Trump’s family is decrying it all as continual targeting.

“We were being accused of colluding with Russia which was a crazy notion," said Jared Kushner, a former senior advisor to Donald Trump said on Fox News. “The same people who are pushing that false narrative are the same people who are continually attacking President Trump."

They say it’s played to his advantage. Some Trump critics agree as he pushes a victim’s narrative and pulls in donations.

“Well, in the short term, you could almost give the attorney general the title of honorary campaign manager and fundraiser for Donald Trump. Clearly, that has resorted to his [Trump's] benefit in the short term," said Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Meanwhile, a conservative website says it acquired a previous, telling letter from the National Archives to Trump lawyers.

Trump supporters say it shows politics played at least some roll in the search and that President Joe Biden and his staff were aware of the Archive’s attempts to retrieve documents but the letter also indicates he may have illegally taken classified, top secret and special access program materials.

“When the FBI comes to your house and finds what is reported — 300 documents, you're not supposed to have — that’s a bad thing, regardless of what’s in them. Then you look at security concerns,” said Loge. “As a national security matter, it’s really frightening.”

But he says as the Justice Department ponders how much to redact from the list of seized items and what to share publicly, Trump will have the louder voice which, at this exact moment, has shown some dividends.

New polls indicate a significant surge, even a controlling lead, in a potential matchup with other Republicans should Trump run again.