The road ahead is coming into focus as a rocky one for President Trump in respect of the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, as the independent master that Mr. Trump sought and was appointed by Judge Aileen Cannon is showing himself to be anything but a pliant referee.   

Yet another obstacle for Mr. Trump emerged on Thursday, as the special master, Judge Raymond Dearie, in an otherwise administrative missive, demanded Mr. Trump provide “a list of any specific items set forth in the Detailed Property Inventory that Plaintiff asserts were not seized from the Premises on August 8, 2022.”    

The demand for this inventory stems from accusations leveled by Mr. Trump to the effect that the government planted incriminating documents at Mar-a-Lago, and then concocted to “find” them during the search of the property. 

During an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity that aired on Wednesday, Mr. Trump mused: “Did they drop anything into those piles” of records carted off during the search, “or did they do it later?” In his filing, Judge Dearie indicated a willingness to hold a hearing with witness testimony as to the provenance of the files. 

Judge Dearie has also added to his team, bringing in a retired judge, James Orenstein, to assist him with reviewing the thousands of documents that are now in his purview. Judge Dearie noted that Judge Orenstein has “experience with complex case management, privilege review,” and “warrant procedures,” as well as top secret security clearance.” He will be paid $500 an hour for his time — a bill to be footed by Mr. Trump. 

Judge Dearie, who is forging additional compensation for serving as special master, ordered the Department of Justice to turn over “copies of all seized materials” in electronic form to Mr. Trump’s lawyers by Monday. This tranche does not include the 100 classified documents that the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit decided will remain with the feds.