A federal judge ruled Thursday that former President Donald Trump would have more time to review materials and substantiate claims that the FBI planted evidence when it raided his Mar-A-Lago home last month, overruling the special master in the case. 

“There shall be no separate requirement on Plaintiff at this stage, before the review of any of the Seized Materials, to lodge ex ante final objections to the accuracy of Defendant’s Inventory, its descriptions, or its contents,” U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote in the ruling.

Special Master Raymond Dearie wanted Trump to make the claims and back them up by Friday, giving him and his lawyers only four days to review the list submitted by the FBI as final and complete on Monday.

As part of the ruling, Cannon extended the timeline for both the DOJ and Trump to review documents pertaining to the raid. The DOJ will now have until October 14 to make documents available to Trump and his team, who will then have three weeks to make claims that the records seized were covered under executive privilege or were personal as determined by the Presidential Records Act.

Extension of deadline

Trump is required to make the claims on a “document by document” basis, according to Cannon.

After Trump’s team submits its claims, the DOJ will have 10 days to respond.

Furthermore, Cannon extended the deadline for Dearie to give a final report on the case to December 16.

“This modest enlargement is necessary to permit adequate time for the Special Master’s review and recommendations given the circumstances as they have evolved since entry of the Appointment Order,” she wrote.

Evidence planted?

Trump has suggested on social media that evidence could have been planted, without saying it definitely was.

“Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be left alone, without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, ‘planting.'” he posted on Truth Social. “Why did they STRONGLY insist on having nobody watching them, everybody out? Obama and Clinton were never ‘raided,’ despite big disputes!”

Trump has claimed that agents seized his will, but the DOJ has not listed that document as being among the ones they seized.

Cannon has already acknowledged that agents seized private medical and tax records, articles of clothing, and documents protected by attorney-client privilege in the raid.