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In the scandal surrounding the classified documents Donald Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago, the former president and his lawyers appear to have everything they want. Team Trump insisted that a Trump-appointed judge assign a special master in the case to review the materials, and she complied. Team Trump asked for a specific judge to fill the role, and the Justice Department complied.

Its against this backdrop that the former president and his defense attorneys still have a problem, not with prosecutors, but with the special master they sought out. NBC News reported:

Donald Trumps attorneys said in a filing Monday night that they dont want to disclose to a court-appointed special master which Mar-a-Lago documents they assert the former president may or may not have declassified. In a four-page letter to the special master, Trumps attorneys pushed back against Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearies apparent proposal that they submit specific information regarding declassification to him in the course of his review.

In other words, the Trump-requested arbiter asked the former president and his lawyers to disclose details about the documents he claims to have declassified. They responded that they dont want to comply.

Why not? Because as Team Trump told Dearie, they dont want to be forced to fully and specifically disclose a defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment.

Or put another way, Team Trump fears that a criminal indictment against the former president or others in his operation might be on the way, and answering the special masters question might undermine a future legal defense.

The process is off to a great start, isnt it?

Complicating matters, this isnt the only area of concern for the Republican. Dearies draft plan also set a deadline of Oct. 7 for the inspection process, while Team Trump responded that it wants to drag out the process until the end of November.

Whats more, a Politico report added, Trumps team also raised concerns about Dearies request for information about whether any subsequent Fourth Amendment litigation filed by Trump to reclaim the documents should be filed with the magistrate judge who authorized the search in the first place: Bruce Reinhart, who Trump has assailed without basis as biased against him.

With U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, everything was a breeze for the former president. The young, conservative jurist simply ignored potential concerns about her professional reputation and gave Trump, who tapped her for the federal bench two years ago, pretty much everything he wanted.

If the Republican expected his handpicked special master to follow Cannons lead, it appears hes going to be disappointed.

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

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Team Trump pushes back against its own special master in docs case - MSNBC