In the legal dispute over the appointment of a neutral examiner after the search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, the Justice Department is going a little way towards the other side.
In a document released Monday evening (local time), the ministry was open to accepting either of the two candidates proposed by the former president's lawyers.
After both sides had previously nominated two people each for the role of independent examiner, the department now appealed to the court to either appoint the two previous judges it had proposed for the role or to appoint a judge who Trump's lawyers had named: Raymond Dearie from New York.
All three had sufficient legal experience.
The second candidate named by Trump's officials -- who is a lawyer but not a judge -- does not have that experience, the ministry said.
The government therefore rejects his appointment.
Trump's lawyers, in turn, opposed both Justice Department candidates, giving only "specific reasons" for their objections, without being more specific. This could end up with Dearie.
In early August, the FBI searched Trump's Florida mansion.
The FBI confiscated various classified documents, some of which had the highest level of secrecy.
Since Trump kept the records at his private estate after his term in office, he may have broken the law.
This is now being investigated.
Trump and his lawyers criticize the authorities' actions as politically motivated.
They demanded the appointment of a neutral auditor and filed a corresponding lawsuit.
A court granted Trump's request: The confiscated documents should therefore be checked by such a special representative and the inspection of the documents by the authorities stopped until then.
The Ministry of Justice criticized this and appealed parts of the court's decision.
In another case, too, the former president's environment is increasingly being targeted: In its investigations into the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the American Department of Justice is increasingly targeting people from Trump's environment.
The "New York Times" and the broadcaster CNN reported on Monday (local time) that the ministry had requested information from several dozen former and current Trump employees in the past few days. It is partly about documents, but also about a subpoena for a statement. Among them is the former president's social media boss, Dan Scavino, who still works for Trump. In the past few months, the ministry has already requested information from people close to Trump, under threat of criminal prosecution, the " New York Times".
Trump supporters stormed the House of Parliament in Washington on January 6, 2021.
The Justice Department has been investigating the storming of the Capitol for many months.
Hundreds of rioters from that day were brought to justice.
However, there is growing pressure on the ministry to also initiate criminal prosecution against Trump.
In a committee of inquiry in the House of Representatives that is investigating the background to the attack, various witnesses heavily incriminated Trump.