A new judge is poised to oversee the grand jury’s investigations into the former president

Donald

Trump, including the ongoing investigation of classified documents found at his Florida estate.

U.S. District Judge James Jeb Boasberg will be sworn in Friday as chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, DC. That role will see him oversee grand jury cases and sealed disputes that have surfaced in investigations involving Trump.

Boasberg was appointed to the court by former President Obama after former President George W. Bush appointed him to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He replaces outgoing Chief Justice of the Federal District Court, Beryl Howell, also an Obama appointee, who held the top position during high-profile investigations, including a previous Justice Department investigation into links between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign in 2016. The chief judge position rotates every seven years.

The position is important at a time when Special Counsel Jack Smith is conducting grand jury investigations into Trump’s custody of hundreds of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Fla., estate, as well as efforts by Trump and his allies to scrutinize the results. of the 2020 presidential election ahead of the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.

The investigations address multiple sealed litigations, including a current battle over whether prosecutors can obtain additional grand jury testimony from Trump attorney M. Evan Corcoran.

Corcoran drafted a statement last year saying that classified documents had been diligently searched in Mar-a-Lago, but FBI agents found about 100 additional documents with classified markings when they searched the home with a search warrant weeks later.

Corcoran had invoked attorney-client privilege during a grand jury appearance weeks ago. But Smith’s team has tried to interrogate him again by invoking an exception to that privilege. The dispute is taking place behind closed doors and it is not clear whether it will be resolved before Boasberg takes over as chief justice.

Separately, former Vice President Mike Pence has said he will challenge a grand jury subpoena seeking to force him to testify in the special prosecutor’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack.

Pence has argued that because he was fulfilling his role as Senate President that day while presiding over a joint session of Congress to confirm the election results, he is protected from being compelled to address his actions under the speech- or debate clause of the constitution, which protects members of Congress.

Boasberg previously served as chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and in that role raised concerns with the FBI after a Justice Department watchdog report found serious errors and omissions in surveillance requests filed during the Russia investigation.