DOJ ‘taint team’ examining Trump Mar-a-Lago documents

A Department of Justice “taint” or “filter” team has been pouring over the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago by FBI agents during a raid on former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the process. 

It is a standard process for the DOJ to use a “taint” or “filter” team to go through documents in a situation like this, in part to identify documents that may be protected by the attorney-client privilege.

Fox News has learned that process began soon after the search warrant was executed on Aug. 8.

TRUMP FILES MOTION SEEKING INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF DOCS SEIZED DURING FBI RAID ON MAR-A-LAGO 

This could complicate the Trump legal team’s efforts to appoint a “Special Master” to examine nearly 20 boxes of documents taken from Mar-a-Lago, as many of them have likely already been filtered through and inspected by DOJ officials since the raid took place over two weeks ago.

In a motion filed Monday evening in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Trump and his legal team said they are seeking an independent review of the records seized by the FBI during its “unprecedented” and “unnecessary” raid of Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, saying the decision to search his private residence just months before the 2022 midterm elections “involved political calculations aimed at diminishing the leading voice in the Republican Party, President Trump.”

Judge Bruce Reinhart earlier on Monday morning admitted the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago home was “unprecedented” and formally rejected the Justice Department’s argument to keep the affidavit leading to the search under seal, citing the “intense public and historical interest.”

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.