seconds, ago lawyers for the former president took the next step in the effort to force an independent review of materials taken from his florida mansion. they are court. filing, which we just got our hands on a second ago, caps a day of reaction to a justice department filing. and the picture, this one in attachment f, it shows highly classified documents that the fbi says it s found despite written assurance two months prior according to doj. that none remain there. cnn s learned that trump attorney and former ankara christina bob, was one of the people giving that assurance, signing a letter saying. so the doj filing goes on to say the documents were quote, likely concealed and removed from a storage room at mar-a-lago as part of an effort to quote, obstruct, unquote the fbi investigation. it says that some recovered items were so highly classified that even some fbi counter intelligence personnel and others needed additional security clearances to review them. so, that s
investigation. let s break down what each side is arguing before this judge right now. cnn s sarah murray is leading us off. sarah, walk us you therough it. reporter: ana, this is going to be the continuation of this court fight over whether there should be this third party to go through what was seized at mar-a-lago. the justice department has argued that this is not a necessary step. they re saying that the trump team pushed an inaccurate narrative about the search and that putting a special master in place now when they ve already gone through the material is just going to slow down their criminal investigation and could potentially impede this national security risk assessment that has already been under way. they re also pointing out that while there are some potentially attorney-client privilege materials, that executive privilege doesn t apply in this scenario because you re talking about sharing information with the executive branch. but the trump team in their fili
now, the department, they want to take the muzzle off, of course. and keep in mind, when two former pence aides testified to the federal grand jury, there had been a deal that had already been negotiated in advance to try to steer clear of any of their direct interactions with trump. that happens through the same approach we ve seen used by the house select committee. the fact that the doj is dotting their is and crossing their ts and preparing for a court privilege signals that if information is what you want, negotiation approach, let alone the muzzle, suspect going to cut it. remember, concerns about privilege are believed to be wide. they chose not to pursue any contempt of charges against mark meadows or dani scavino, as opposed to steve bannon and navarro. the department has green lit all of the access to the house select committee s transcripts. that s more than about 1,000 witnesses, i might add. in the word of chairman bennie thompson, no one the committee has talked
closer to understanding why the government felt it had to do this as opposed to waiting and going back and forth yet again with the former administration. but let s be clear here. this also could not move in all honesty the needle all that much for you out there in the public because there s a reason these things are often kept under wraps and has a lot to do with protecting the rights of the person whose home or in this case, estate, are being searched, and of course the safety of witnesses and sources. the judge said as much when he cleared the way for fbi agents to execute that warrant and saying in his written order, quote, the government has met its burden to show compelling, reason, good cause to seal portions of the affidavit because disclosure would reveal, one, identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents and uncharged parties, two, the direction, strategy, sources, scope, and methods. and three, grand jury methods protected by criminal rules of procedure. as for
department. what investigators inside the doj could be looking for. plus, the january 6th committee seeking testimony from trump cabinet members who discussed at the time invoking the 25th amendment to remove the then-president in the panel s cross hairs, former treasury secretary steve mnuchin and dni john ratcliff. new cooperation from inside the former president s doj. someone who worked with jeffrey clarke, the man trump tried to install as acting attorney general in the days leading up to january 6th, is now cooperating with the criminal probe. let s begin with senior justice correspondent evan perez. a lot of movement within the doj, particularly as they attempt to get around this executive privilege argument. break down exactly how the department plans to do this and how quickly. reporter: well, jim, they are planning to try to get this as quickly as possible. they are looking the goal here is to try to get to people, testimony from people who were in direct