Trump has failed to show he declassified docs seized from Mar-a-Lago, DOJ tells appeals court - CNBC

Attorneys for Donald Trump have repeatedly failed to show that the former president declassified government records that were taken from his Florida home as part of a criminal investigation, the Department of Justice told a federal appeals court.

The Justice Department made that argument late Tuesday as it sought to resume its review of records marked classified that were seized from Trump's Palm Beach resort home Mar-a-Lago in an FBI raid last month.

Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit swung back at Trump's lawyers, who earlier Tuesday asked the court to preserve a ruling from a lower federal judge that blocked the government from examining the seized documents.

The DOJ lawyers added that Trump "is now resisting" a request by a court-appointed special master for him to provide evidence that he declassified records that were seized.

The DOJ appealed, asking the 11th Circuit to lift the part of Cannon's order barring it from using the government records bearing classification markings and requiring the government to disclose those records to the special master.

But in Tuesday's court conference, Dearie expressed skepticism toward Trump's lawyers about which, if any, of the seized Mar-a-Lago records had been declassified, NBC News reported.

In a footnote, Trump's lawyers added, "The fact the documents contain classification markings does not necessarily negate privilege claims." They pointed to the fact that, according to the probable cause affidavit used to obtain the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, some documents with classified markings also include Trump's handwritten notes?