- Trump filed a lawsuit requesting a court-appointed outsider review the Mar-a-Lago documents.
- A judge on Saturday signaled she's inclined to grant the request.
- The lawsuit also accused the Department of Justice of treating Trump unfairly.
A judge on Saturday indicated she is likely to grant former President Donald Trump's request to have a court-appointed outsider conduct the review of documents seized by the Justice Department at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.
In a brief order, US District Court Judge Aileen Cannon wrote of her "preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case," adding it should not be misconstrued as her final decision.
Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, ordered the Justice Department to provide a "more detailed" list of the items recovered from Trump's Florida residence during the search and information about the status of the current reviews of the materials, including the "filter review" team that is screening for documents protected by attorney-client privilege.
Cannon also asked Trump's team to respond to the Justice Department's new detailed list of seized materials, and for both parties to explain their expectations for the role of a special master in the case. She scheduled a hearing for Thursday.
Trump filed a lawsuit on Monday requesting the court block the Justice Department's review of the documents and appoint a special master to "protect the integrity of privileged documents," or filter out documents protected by executive privilege.
The lawsuit also accused the Justice Department of treating him unfairly, accusations that the judge did not address in her order on Saturday.
During a search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8, the FBI seized boxes of materials, some highly classified, according to court records. The Justice Department is investigating potential violations of laws related to handling government documents.