Welcome. Welcome, one and all, in here, out there to the late show. I'm your host,

Stephen Colbert, and we are back.

Back, baby. After a three-week hiatus, it was magical. I went on vacation, Taylor Swift

announced a new album. Harry Styles did not spit on me, and the wall started closing in on

former president, Darth Trader. Turns out, turns out, turns out, turns out, stashing top secret

government documents in the basement of your country club is to use some technical jargon

super illegal. Allegedly. Allegedly. Since the FBI obtained a search warrant from Mar-a-Lago

at the beginning of August, the DOJ has begun building a pretty strong case against the

former president, which might be why as a sort of stalling tactic. He filed a motion requesting

a special master to review the documents seized by federal agents. I got to say, special

master. Actually, sounds kind of kinky. You will address me as the special master, and

you will submit your motion to dismiss no later than 3 p.m. Friday. Now bang for my

gavel. Normally, the purpose of a special master is to go through all the documents and determine

which ones are relevant to the case, and which might be protected by something like attorney

client privilege. But given the national security implications here, most legal minds assumed

a judge wouldn't do anything to hinder the investigation. But yesterday, federal judge

Eileen Cannon granted the former president's request to appoint a special master and barred

the Justice Department from using the seized materials for any investigative purpose until

the work was completed. But that's going to slow everything down, Eileen. You know the

old saying, justice delayed is just what he wants, because he just needs time to shred

the evidence. Perhaps most bizarrely. Perhaps most bizarrely, Cannon's ruling orders the

special master to look out for documents potentially shielded by executive privilege, but

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