judge aileen cannon, did she want to be a cirit court judge one day? she want to be on the 11th circuit court of appeals? does she want go on the supreme court some day? well, if she does,ouldn'be surpsing to me, making decisions in concert with the agenda, especially given tru's svengali like hold over republicans, -- when you look at the structure of our judicial system, it is so primarily based on people and those pple can be biased. those pple can be prejudiced. those peoe can be wrong and w don't do near enough within our system to hold our judges accountae. there is -- they are appointed for life, nway to rove them absent impeachment. these are real problems we have when you run into clear cases of bias or unethil behavior as i believe we are seeing with judge cannon. look, let's remember this. i am suggesting that canon is biased and corrupt based on her opinion, which has no basis in law. the other option is that she has no idea what she is doing. i tend to give her the befit of the doubt that she actuay knows what she is doing and has decided

aileen cannon, the judge in the mar-a-lago case is only 41 years old. was 39 when trump nominated her as a district judge. cannon worked as a clerk for conservative judge on the eighth circuit court of appeals but other conservative appointees nod had the most extensive resumes considering these are life time judicial appointments. 35-year-old katherine kimbell never tried a case before donald trump gave her a life time appointment to the united states district court for the middle district of florida. she was the one who handed down the opinion abruptly ending the federal mask mandate on u.s. airlines. or there is 39 judge justin walker who had also never tried a case in his life when president trump appointed him to the federal bench in 2019. in 2020, judge walker ruled in favor of a louisville wedding photographer who wanted to deny service to same sex couples. that decision was appealed but just last week another judge once again sided with the photographer and this time the judge was a guy named benjamin beaton, 40-year-old judge, another appointee

this ruling is really a pretty full-throated rebuke of aileen cannon's ruling in trump's favor. it also seems like it allows the justice department to immediately resume its investigation into trump for hoarding the classified documents in very first place. joining us now to help understand all this is barbara, quaid former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. barbara, thank you so much for joining me and helping us all decipher the import of this most recent ruling here from the 11th circuit court of appeals. it seems like a very big win for the department of justice, it seems like to the casual observer, a rebuke of aileen cannon down in the district court, how did you read all of this and what happens next? >> yeah, a resounding victory for the justice department. also a very swift victory. they filed their reply brief only yesterday. and immediately we saw the appeals court issued this ruling. i was little stunned to see it come out so quickly, frankly? but the language is very clear and they explain why classified documents are so incredibly sensitive. incred

judge aileen cannon decision to make with no road map.e federal courthouse in west palm beach, florida. attorneys from the government and attorneys for president trump argued before her today over this issue of a special master. we have been talking about this since the feds went into mar-a-lago on august #th. a special master is a neutral third party arbiter, someone to come in and look at the evidence at a distant view and see if some of that evidence should be returned that is not part of the scope of the investigation. trump's team says this is fine. this is food to have a person that's not a trump person or a biden person, but doj has problems with that. federal judge cannon indicated today she was skeptical of the government's opposition to having this outside arbiter examine documents. appoint ago special master. that's what she asked. this after lawyers for the former president told the american -- told the court, rather, the american people don't trust the government when federal prosecutors claim to have already scrubbed, seized

to review material the fbi seized at mar-a-lago, the former president appeared to praise judge aileen cannon statement saying, "it takes courage and guts to fight a totally corrupt department of justice and fbi." but judge cannon is being slammed on other fronts. new york university law professor chris sprigman saying on twitter, "cannon's decision is partisan hack judging." others while not going that far do say the optics of judge cannon's connection to trump at least raise questions. >> i don't know whether she was partisan because she was appointed by trump. it does seem that she certainly bent over backwards to help him in this case. >> reporter: judge cannon was nominated to the federal bench by trump in may of 2020. she was confirmed just days after the 2020 presidential election. former acting u.s. attorney michael sherman, a friend of aileen cannon's, told us her appointment by trump wouldn't have prompted her to tip the scales on trump's behalf. sherwin saying, "she's going to make sure the former president's rights were protected just as all citizens' rights should be protected."

trump got a lower court judge, aileen cannon, who he appointed. to agree that a special master should go through all of the documents. and in a ruling that was widely ridiculed, cannon said that while the special master's going through all these documents the justice department is not allowed to look at the classified documents or to use them in a criminal investigation into trump having the documents at's beach club in the first place. but tonight, three judges of the 11th circuit court of appeals, some trump appointees, have brushed back that lower court judge. eileen cannon. and said that, yes, justice department can indeed have access to those classified documents after all. the judge is right in their opinion. quote, for our part, we cannot discern why plaintiff trump would have an interest in or need for any kind of the 100 documents with classification markings. a person may have access to classified information only if, among other requirements, he has a need to know the information. the requirement pertains exactly two former presidents.

ron desantis would very much want to elevate judge cannon to the supreme court from her district court in florida, if he becomes president. judge aileen mercedes cannon is now the hero judge, the hero judge, of trump world and republican world, and therefore the hero judge of every republican in the united states senate who would all vote to confirm her to the united states supreme court, in a flash. you heard former federal prosecutor barbara mcquade on this program last night say something she has never said here before. i agree with william barr. and that is because donald trump's last confirmed attorney general, william barr, is now saying every day, that judge cannon's decision is wrong. and he's doing it, interestingly, on rupert murdoch's fox propaganda channel, which means that is a command decision being made by rupert murdoch, to invite william barr on fox every day so far this week, to condemn judge aileen cannon's attempts to help donald trump. today, william barr told the fox audience this. >> there is no scenario, legally, in which the president gets to keep the documents government documents, unless it's whether it is c

. >> judge aileen cannon, a trump appointee, granted the former president's request. >> some legal experts are calling the judge's ruling "deeply problematic." >> this order, i think everyone agrees, is flawed. the judge here in florida has created something of a mess. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> announcer: it's "the late show with stephen colbert!" tonight: deep doc secrets! plus, stephen welcomes: alex wagner and, roy wood, jr. featuring louis cato and the late show band! and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! ( cheers and applause ) (♪ theme song playing ♪) >> stephen: hey! welcome, welcome. oh! age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety. ( band playing ) ( cheers and applause ) >> stephen: have a good season. >> louis: nice season! >> stephen: have a good season. have a good season. have a good season. have a good season. have a good season. season, have a good season happy tuesday, hey, everybody. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. down there, up there, oh my goodness. sit down! you're too nice. welcome, welcome ladies and g

but judge aileen cannon denied a key doj request to continue reviewing classified material as part of its criminal investigation. the doj has said it would appeal the judges ruling to the 11th circuit, so stay tuned. meanwhile, nbc news has confirmed that trump's former chief of staff mark meadows, on your screen, right there, has complied with the subpoena from the justice department's investigation into the sixth. that now makes him the highest ranking ex trump official to do so. tonight, the washington post has new reporting on the dozens of other january six subpoenas that were issued over the last week. the post says, each of you three of the subpoenas which cover, quote, 18 separate categories of information, including any communications the recipients had with scores of people in six different states, where supporters of then president trump sought to promote what are known as alternate electors. today, trump in an interview, was asked about the possibility he could get charged. here is some of what he had to say. >> do you feel like the department of justice is trying to indic

he won't judge shopping, again, this time, the doj case landed before aileen cannon. at first she appeared skeptical, requesting more information from trump's lawyer as to why the case was even come before her and to begin with. there is a pending legal matter under another judge, former magistrate judge, reinhart, right? that is the name you recognize already overseeing it. he's hearing about which part of the search warrant will be made public and which part of the affidavit will be made public. he is overseeing it, right? so cannon ask, why me? but she seems to have gotten the picture pretty quickly, last week, she took the unprecedented step to basically tell everyone ahead of time that she will rule in trump's favor before issuing a ruling it's up yesterday, as you noted a moment ago, is basically the laughing stock of the entire legal profession. cannon ruled that the department of justice must pause review of the documents seized from trump's week to go, essentially put much of the investigation on hold, which is trump struggle here. cannon also ordered, quote,

well, over there, judge aileen cannon seems way more willing to entertain the grievances of the former president. with less than two years on the bench, judge cannon is presiding over arguably one of the most monumental and frankly consequential trials of our time. trump, as we all know well, got a ruling in his favor this week for a special master to review the seized documents at mar-a-lago. and he has expressed his great happiness at this outcome, and with judge can. in writing on his social media website, quote remember,, it takes courage and guts to fight a totally corrupt department of quote, justice, and the fbi. you can see why donald trump likes to file lawsuits in judge cannons district. the doj, meanwhile, in an attempt to continue their work on the criminal investigation and intelligence review of those classified documents, the justice department basically said to judge cannon last night, hey, we are going to appeal your ruling. but in the meantime, can you at least now back one part of it and exempt those 100 or so classified documents from the special master review? ever

and -- excuse me, a bad ruling by judge aileen cannon and also trying to get a sense from dearieary, you made the point that what doj might want to do or might find advantageous is to get the most sensitive classified materials cleared by the special master and return to work on the criminal case. is that possible or is it gummed up in these legal back and forth moves? >> well, judge cannon did require that the special master prioritize review of the classified materials. but one of the things that was most shocking to me about her order is she didn't just order the department of justice to turn those documents over to the special master to review for potential privilege. she ordered the government to turn them over to the plaintiff's attorneys. so she caveated that with under proper security clearances and in the appropriate security environment. but i don't know if any of those attorneys have those security clearances and there's no reason why she should be letting them take the first cut, why she should be directing the department to share classified information with those --

the justice department has filed an appeal to the stunning ruling by judge aileen cannon which appointsdependent arbiter of a so-called special master and something bill barr called a red herring to review the special master seized by the fbi in mar-a-lago one month ago. doj is seeking to block a pardon of that judge's order that temporarily prevents investigators from using the 100 classified documents that were seized from mar-a-lago in its investigation. here's what doj says about those documents. quote, plaintiff, that means donald trump could not assert that he owns or has any possessory interest in classified records, that he has any right of those records returned to him or he have any possible claims of attorney-client privilege that would bar the government from reviewing or using them. >> joining us now is andrew weissmann, senior member of the special counsel investigation. andrew, i want to really drill down on this because i believe what doj is arguing is this nightmare scenario that judge aileen cannon forced it to stop its review of what damage has been done and the appea

our ongoing criminal investigation into these classified documents because remember it was judge aileen cannon at the district court level in florida that put the brakes on that, saying, look, while the special master review is ongoing, you cannot use those 100 classified documents in your ongoing investigation. the doj is saying this is going to cause us irrepairable harm and we need to be able to move forward with this. the second thing is they've been told they have to disclose the classified information during the special master review. and they're saying that this is also going to harm the process here, possibly harm national security by letting the special master take a look at all of these classified documents. so, those are the two things they're asking for. they're not appealing the district court's judge in full, but they are asking for these two immediate steps from the 11th circuit. so, we'll see what the court does here. as we noted in the past, six of the 11 judges on the 11th circuit are trump appointees. so, there will be probably a three-member panel that will take a look at t

district judge aileen cannon has allowed an outside special master to look at the seized documents from former president trump's mar-a-lago estate. >> probably what they'll be talking about is a retired master judge. >> reporter: in the 24-page ruling judge cannon wrote that trump faces unwant finally potential harm if more sensitive information is made public and says he should be granted an outside lawyer ruling on the evidence. the ruling blocks them from using the documents in the investigation until after the so-called special master is done. >> the shameful raid and break-in of my home in mar-a-lago was a travesty of justice. >> stumping over the holiday in pennsylvania for november midterm candidates, trump continues to claim the search was part of the justice department. >> it's clear which way the maga republicans are. they're extreme. >>> monday president visited pennsylvania, a crucial swing state, for the third time in less than a week where he again warned trump and many of his supporters are a threat to american democracy. and that federal judge set a september 9th deadlin

the judge aileen cannon, she was appointed by trump in 2020. she became a member of the bench. she's saying that she's granting trump's request. he wanted this special master to review all of these materials, more than 11,000 documents at mar-a-lago, for personal records. she said there were some medical records in this cache. and also anything that could be covered by attorney/client or executive privilege. also importantly, though, this is where the delay comes in, is blocking the department of justice from using any of these documents in its ongoing criminal investigation. for instance, they can't ask a witness about some of these records that they may have found. now, the reason for this, the judge saying that part of the issue here is that he is a former president, and she wants to give some deference to him. she wrote in this 24-page opinion, the investigation and treatment of a former president is of unique interest to the general public and the country is served best by an orderly process that promotes the interest and perception of fairness. trump had claimed that this

trump's legal team brought the special master's order back to the judge in charge of the case, aileen cannon. tonight, it is with the judge dearie order to, essentially, put up, or shut up. meaning, trump, and conservative media can continue to have to make this entire mar-a-lago episode as a deep state fake. while she was at, it she extended the deadline for the special master's review from the end of november, to the week before christmas. deny, deny, deny, delay, delay, delay. what does this mean for accountability? joining, us david rohde, executive for the new yorker .com. thank you for being here. we have spoken over these last couple of weeks about the trump -ification of the judiciary. on the 11th circuit court glueing, and the judge special master, it seemed the judiciary was back on track. eileen cannon is a specific actor in this. what do you make of this decision on her part? >> it's disappointing. a positive thing, judge dearie, appointed by president reagan, a republican appointed, he was pushing a fact finding effort. essentially, here is the inventory of documents, that the f

>> yeah, the judge in that case, aileen cannon, who is a trump appointee, has agreed to have a neutralrd party, or special master, go over the evidence seized from that fbi search and decide, among other things, if executive privilege applies to any of the documents. but trump's legal team and the justice department haven't yet agreed on who that special master should be. they've each put forward their own candidates. they're also at odds about owho should pay for their services and what authority that person should have. in a filing last night, the doj argued the special master, quote, should not review the documents with classification markings and should not adjudicate claims of executive privilege. the judge also ordered the fbi to stop reviewing the documents from that search until that special master can be appointed, essentially freezing that part of the investigation. but she said the documents can be used to evaluate whether there was a compromise of national security. so, in essence, the judge is saying there is a concern about a breach of national security, but she's hitting

the pickled at judge aileen cannon is in. you come up with these things after you've been on tv for three hours or so. the pickle that judge cannon is in come monday, and especially when it comes to now learning of the pause in reviewing the damage done by these documents being exposed to mar-a-lago. >> yeah, yasmin, it almost feels like all of this discussion about the different special masters that are being offered by the two sides, and whether to be done promptly or pushed into the future as not surprisingly the trump team is requesting, is all a little beside the point. because let's remember that the department of justice has announced that it will be appealing the entirety of judge canada ruling. they filed a notice of appeal and, what they said was of most consequence right now was the judges stock market order. because she said, stop criminally investigating classified materials recovered from mar-a-lago. and she went on to say, but you can continue to have the intelligence community conduct a risk assessment to our

district judge aileen cannon of the southern district of florida. she's the one overseeing the fight between doj and donald trump's lawyers over the classified material seized at mar-a-lago. last night in rather startling fashion, cannon rejected a request from doj that would have allowed federal prosecutors to continue their review of roughly 100 classified documents. as part of the department's ongoing criminal investigations. "politico" reports this, quote, in her ruling, cannon refused to accept department officials' contention that the records they are trying to review as part of an ongoing criminal investigation remain highly classified or contain extraordinarily sensitive defense information that could damage national security if released. the department's court challenge again expected any moment would be an attempt to reverse cannon's restrictions. but there's another aspect of all this to keep in mind. the appeal we're talking about would be heard in the 11th u.s. circuit court of appeals where six of 11 judges happen to be trump appointee

us district court judge aileen cannon ruled tonight that the special master in that mar-a-lago raid case will review all documents seized from the former president. remember, the doj had strenuously argued for a limited review so as not to slow down their investigation. well this ruling tonight puts the brakes, at least temporarily, on this aspect of the ongoing harassment of donald trump. more on this breaking story in a few moments. also, huge news from the financial world as the ceo of fed-ex is predicting a worldwide recession after the company's reporting that it will miss its revenue expectations. well, wall street wanted biden and now wall street has biden. unfortunately so do the rest of us. more reaction from the panel on that coming up >> but first, hate united. that's the focus of tonight's angle. now we've been waiting for it and now the white house is closing argument for the midterms is coming into sharper focus. today president biden presented his updated vision of america the beautiful, and, golly, was it inspiring. >> there's a through line of hate from massacres of indi

judge aileen cannon writing, because of trump's role as a former president, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own. a treatment based to any degree on property that ought to be returned would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude. and a major victory for trump, a third party attorney outside of government will soon be tasked with sifting through thousands of documents to identify personal items and materials that could be protected by attorney client or executive privilege. >> while it does delay things and slow down, which of course is bad for doj in their case, i think, at the end of the day, we are not going to see a lot of documents pulled by the special master. >> a judge pointing out some of the seized materials include taxes and accounting information. the ruling, allowing u.s. intelligence agencies to continue their national security damage assessment, but halting the justice department criminal review of its mar-a-lago home. >> i don't think it has a massive impact in the investigation in the long run. if i we

federal prosecutors want district judge aileen cannon to reconsider her ruling from last week tellingfied government documents seized from mar-a-lago until a special master reviews them first. they wrote that cannon's order could impede effort to identify the existence of any additional classified records that are not being properly stored. they argue cannon's order poses ongoing risk to national security. department of justice officials have until midnight to respond to the latest filing from trump's legal team. federal judge aileen cannon is expected to make an announcement on the special master at some point, possibly later this week. the government is appealing this case to a higher court. bret? >> bret: david spunt at the justice department. david, thank you. breaks just minutes ago from the "new york times," the justice department has issued about 40 subpoenas in the past week seeking information about the actions of former president trump and his associates related to the 2020 election and the january 6th attack. we will continue to follow that. and follow it tomorrow. up next,

dearie makes his ruling, judge aileen cannon will be able to make her ruling. and from there, there could be appeals. so, this has always been donald trump's game. run out the clock, delay, delay, delay. it's all as long as possible. but i don't know that he can stall long enough for this case to run aground in terms of the 2024 election. i think at some point it may get delayed by a matter of months. but i think it's an point, this case will come to fruition. and i do you think, based on all that we know, it seems impossible for the justice department to decline pursuing criminal charges here, unless there is some new fact of which we are currently unaware. >> we do know that the next move is probably to appeal is two of the 11th circuit court of appeals. six of the 11 judges on that a trump appointees. barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan, thanks very time and expertise tonight. i want to bring into the conversation tonight ben rhodes, former national security adviser for the obama administration and an msnbc analyst. ben

merrick garland's team to decide if doj will file an appeal to this ruling by judge aileen cannon.annot continue the investigation into the former president for this judge's order while they wait to appoint a special master. this is a live look outside of the 11th circuit court of appeals in atlanta if the department of justice appeals a three-judge panel with the circuit court of appeals in atlanta to hear the case. of the 11 active judges on the circuit court market six appointed by donald trump. a doj spokesman tells fox news that the government is looking over the order by judge aileen cannon of south florida for 2020 appointee. no word on that appeal from doj. canon wrote yesterday in a labor day order, "the special master shall be appointed to seize the property, manage privilege and make recommendations they were on and evaluate return of property." in simple terms, martha, the master slows down the doj investigation into donald trump. no question it is a legal victory even if temporary for the former president's team. however, the investigation underway by the director of n

it's a strange thing that judge aileen cannon did, removing that. she was supposed to wait and see if they were going to take it to the supreme court and she just immediately amended her order to say, you can use the 100. >> possibly because it was such a judicial thrashing from the 11th circuit. the other thing that the 11th circuit did was say, in no uncertain terms, that the fbi's investigation was inextricably intertwined with the intelligence community's assessment. that is the office of the director of national intelligence. that is doing this sort of separate in tandem review to see how much this compromises our national security. what you expect is going on on that front, as the doj now has access to these 100 classified documents? >> they are doing a review, i think, the intelligence committee -- again, that part was stopped as well. judge cannon's order was sort of vague but there was a decision in the intelligence community to stop the review. where the human sources compromised during this period? that donald documents went on trump's ba

. >> judge aileen cannon, a trump appointee, granted the former president's request. >> some legal experts are calling the judge's ruling "deeply problematic." >> this order, i think everyone agrees, is flawed. the judge here in florida has created something of a mess. ♪ ♪ ♪

. >> reporter: as federal judge aileen cannon mulls whether to appoint a special master, she has orderedt of property taken from mar-a-lago. >> you're going to be able to see what trump had, and that it was more than just keepsakes and mementos. it was serious national security material. >> reporter: judge cannon said earlier today that she would not make a ruling from the bench, and she has not yet made an announcement about what she will do. for now the intel assessment of the evidence continues as does the investigation of trump's conduct. norah? >> still so much more to learn. robert costa, thank you so much. there is a lot more news ahead on the "cbs overnight news." there is nothing glamorous about migraines. since i was a teenager the pain has taken me away from my family and friends. but i finally found relief with nurtec odt it's the only medication that can treat my migraine right when it strikes and prevent my next attack. treat and prevent all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. most common side effects, in less than 3%, were nausea, indigestion/stomach pain. with quick

judge aileen cannon concluded, quote, the court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material. trump and his legal team argued for a special master or independent 3rd party to go through the thousands of documents. now in fbi custody claiming some of the materials may be owed back to him because of attorney client or executive privilege. the government argued the request was moot given they had already had a team review the documents and filter things out and that it would slow down their criminal investigation. but cannons order further explained her decision saying, quote, the investigation and treatment of a former president is of unique interest to the general public in the country is served best, buy an orderly process that promotes the interest. in perception of fairness in his first speech since the fbi raid, trump railed against the fbi and doj a few weeks ago. you saw it. >> when we witnessed one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in american hist

the three-judge appeals court panel in a unanimous ruling repudiated federal judge aileen cannon's decision investigation. the 11th circuit saying cannon's court abused its discretion and that the public has a strong interest in ensuring that the storage of the classified records did not result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security. >> an almost embarrassing rebuke and overall of the lower court's decision. the court made it clear that it sees no reason for the former president to have any possessory interest in the classified h pel possession in a basement of his golf club. >> reporter: the judges also said trump offered no proof to his claims he declassified the records and called the issue a red herring, that even if trump had declassified the records, the documents wouldn't belong to him. shortly before the ruling, the former president went a step further. >> if you're the president of the united states, you ask declassify just by saying it's declassified, even by thinking about it. >> reporter: trump also seemed to undercut his original claim the documents were taken t

a few weeks ago at trump's request, florida federal judge aileen cannon ordered the investigation of the records to pause until an independent party known as a special master went through the records first to see if the fbi should be prevented from seeing any of those documents. today that special master began his work. judge raymond dearie of new york specifically chosen by the trump team, he immediately pushed back on trump's claim he had declassified the sensitive documents in the raid, norah. >> and, scott, that's not the only thing that stood out today, right? >> yeah. during the proceedings today, a couple things stood out. first of all, the trump team has yet to offer any proof that the declassification happened because they said it would complicate any legal defense they'd muster if there's a criminal indictment. what's more, dearie, the special master, said in court today he's pushing back on that a bit, saying the trump team seems to be trying to, quote, have their cake and eat it too. he also said he's going to try to move quickly. he has a november 30th li finh wo f wants

judge aileen cannon concluded, quote, the court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material. trump and his legal team argued for a special master or independent 3rd party to go through the thousands of documents. now in fbi custody claiming some of the materials may be owed back to him because of attorney client or executive privilege. the government argued the request was moot given they had already had a team review the documents and filter things out and that it would slow down their criminal investigation. but cannons order further explained her decision saying, quote, the investigation and treatment of a former president is of unique interest to the general public in the country is served best, buy an orderly process that promotes the interest. in perception of fairness in his first speech since the fbi raid, trump railed against the fbi and doj a few weeks ago. you saw it. >> when we witnessed one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in american hist

. >> right, they basically said that they believe that the original judge, aileen cannon is wrong about all of the documents that donald trump effectively doesn't even have standing because he is not currently the president and these documents belong to the government. but they are willing to go through that process for those 11,000 documents, with the special master, without further appeal. however, it is those hundreds are so classified documents that they are saying are essential to the ongoing criminal investigation, and that there will be irreparable harm to the united states government by virtue of that the united states public if they aren't able to continue to have access to those documents. if there was a delay in their ability to review them, and to use them in that criminal investigation. and their argument is that there is no harm to donald trump in not having documents that they say do not belong to him. and regardless of whether or not those documents are classified, before this case there was no understanding that any government documents belonged to a president of the un

. >> reporter: judge aileen cannon, a trump appointee, wrote in her 24-page ruling that trump faces unquantifiable potential harm if more sensitive information is made public. instead, he should be granted an outside lawyer to review the evidence. the independent reviewer would be directed to examine the evidence obtained during last month's f.b.i. search. >> the kind of person they'll be talking about is probably a retired, respected federal judge. >> reporter: cannon's order sets a deadline for possible candidates: september 9th. her decision could have ramifications for the investigation-- delaying it, as the political season heats up. >> it could both be a big, big practical problem, but also could kind of undermine the entire prosecution. >> reporter: cannon wrote that a special master would review the seized property for personal items and documents, and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney- client and/or executive privilege. her order also bars the justice department from further reviewing the evidence collected until the special master's work is done. but, it does

. >> reporter: as federal judge aileen cannon mulls whether to appoint a special master, she has orderednsealing of a more detailed list of property taken from mar-a-lago. >> you're going to be able to see what trump had, and that it was more than just keepsakes and-- and mementos. it was serious national security material. >> reporter: judge cannon said earlier today that she would not make a ruling from the bench, and she has not yet made an announcement about what she will do. for now, the intel assessment of the evidence continues, as does the investigation of trump's conduct. norah. >> o'donnell: still so much more to learn. robert costa, thank you so much. well, a federal judge here in washington today handed down the longest sentence yet stemming from the january 6 assault on the u.s. capitol. former new york city police officer thomas webster will serve 10 years in prison for assaulting police during the riot while wearing his police-issued body armor. one officer testified that he struggled to breathe when webster grabbed his mask, cutting off his oxygen. tonight, president bide

that's their game plan, and aileen cannon, trump judge aileen cannon is playing right into that game> and voila. let me bring you in, glen, have you as a prosecutor ever had an instance where you had a theft, where you had the product of the theft in the custody of law enforcement and had a judge intervene and say because when law enforcement went into that property and took the products of that theft there were personal items mixed in with the items owned by someone else, the items that were stolen that because there might have been a magazine that trump subscribed to in that list of things or some clothing that was trump's that were literally thrown in the box with the classified materials, have you ever heard of law enforcement being halted saying you cannot investigate this person any further? has that ever happened in your career? >> not in 30 years in prosecuting cases in civilian and military. this is the kind of stuff that gets in motions to suppress in the run-up to trial or run of the mill evidentiary rulings at trial, and i'll tell you, joy, the most dire thing that this j

> reporter: tonight the justice department is weighing whether to charge florida federal judge aileen cannon to authorize the appointment of a special master, a ruling that generated an outcry from some legal experts and criticism from trump's former attorney general. >> i think it's wrong and the government should appeal it. >> reporter: that trump faces harm if more information is made public and for now investigators have been blocked from further revealing evidence until a master's work is done. it could slow the investigation for weeks or months. >> it's just an extraordinary eyesore of an opinion, and it manifests in a number of places a palpable bias in favor of former president trump that would never be accorded any other individual who's the subject of the execution of a criminal search warrant. >> reporter: judge cannon, appointed by trump, was confirmed by the senate days after the 2020 election, any appeal by the justice department would likely be heard by the 11th circuit court of appeals where court watchers note six of the judges are also trump appointees. >> they may in a mor

they're trying to convince judge aileen cannon to appoint a special master to comb through the material seized by doj and weed out any privileged information. but doj attorneys insist they've already done the work themselves. that their special filter teams have pulled 64 sets of documents seized on august 8th -- some 520 pages -- setting them aside as potentially privileged. big picture, 322 classified documents have been removed from the president's home. some of them in this remarkable image with clear markings -- secret. top secret. some of them discovered in desks in trump's own office. doj lawyers today were blunt. "because he was no longer the president, he did not have the right to take those documents. they aren't his." and prosecutors insist, "government records were likely concealed" by the trump team and "efforts were likely taken to obstruct the investigation." today, trump's lawyer asking for that special master citing a "significant lack of trust between the parties." adding, "we need respectfully to lower the temperature of both sides. we need to take a deep breath." thi

the appeals court ruling was a stinging rebuke to florida judge aileen cannon, a trump appointee who, at his request, named an independent special master to review all 11,000 documents seized from mar-a-lago and refused to let the fbi keep working with the classified material. the appeals court determined judge cannon had likely "abused her discretion." that of course the fbi should be allowed to work with the material. the judges writing, "it is self-evident that the public has a strong interest in ensuring that the storage of the classified records did not result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security." but the former president now leveling unfounded accusations that perhaps the fbi had planted the documents. >> the problem is that you have, they go into rooms, they won't anybody near -- they wouldn't even let them in the same building. did they drop anything into those piles? or do they do it later? >> reporter: his attorneys have not made those claims in court, where it is illegal to lie. and tonight, the special master telling them if they're going to make such da