Justice Department accuses Trump of playing "shell game" in records dispute

Washington — Justice Department lawyers accused former President Donald Trump and his legal team of engaging in a "shell game" in the ongoing dispute over records the former president brought with him from the White House to his South Florida residence at the end of his administration.

In a filing with the independent arbiter appointed to review the documents seized by the FBI during its Aug. 8 search at Mar-a-Lago, which was unsealed Monday, federal prosecutors argued the former president wrongly contended that the materials he kept were "personal" and therefore did not have to be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of his presidency in January 2021.

"Seeming to recognize that a document cannot both be a 'personal' record and be shielded by executive privilege, [Trump] has indicated that he asserts executive privilege only if the special master rejects his assertion that a document is a 'personal' record and determines that is a presidential record," the Justice Department wrote. "That is a shell game, and the special master should not indulge it."