JFK Assassination Forum
Off Topic => News - Off Topic - Weird & Wacky => Topic started by: Rick Plant on August 09, 2022, 12:26:05 AM
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Law enforcement agents raid Mar-A-Lago, the Florida home of former President Donald Trump
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2022/02/17/USATODAY/usatsports/imageForEntry25-GFh.jpg?width=1320&height=742&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Former President Donald Trump said Monday evening that law enforcement agents have raided his home at Mar-a-Lago in South Florida, in what appears to be an unprecedented escalation in one or more of the various criminal investigations into his activities.
Trump did not say why the agents appeared to be at his Florida property but, in an emailed statement, added that "this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate."
Trump is under investigation by the Justice Department for removing presidential records from the White House and storing them at Mar-a-Lago for up to a year, a potentially serious violation of the law if the records were classified. Trump has denounced that investigation, saying he was entitled to take the records.
Trump and many of his associates are also under scrutiny by the FBI, the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service and other federal and state agencies for alleged wrongdoing during his four-year administration, and related to his various business entities.
Federal law enforcement officials had no immediate comment on whether agents were at Mar-a-Lago and if so, for what reason. Traditionally, any search would need to be authorized by a judge after finding evidence of probable cause that a crime had been committed – but there are many other circumstances in which agents might be on the property.
Former President Donald Trump said Monday that law enforcement agents have raided his home at Mar-a-Lago, Fla., but did not say what investigation the unprecedented legal action is related to.
“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,”
Trump said in a written statement.
Trump is under investigation by the Justice Department for removing presidential records from the White House and storing them at Mar-a-Lago for up to a year. Trump has denounced the investigation, saying he was entitled to take the records.
The Justice Department and Atlanta prosecutors are also looking at Trump in connection with the an. 6, 2021, insurrection, and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump’s statement was a diatribe of attacks on political opponents whom he held responsible for all the investigations of his conduct.
“It is prosecutorial misconduct,” he said, “the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/08/trump-fbi-maralago-raid/10272048002/
:D :D :D
Look at Donnie whine.
Criminal Donald always blaming others for his crimes. He ran in 2020 and lost in a blowout election and would lose even worse in 2024.
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Donnie shows a profound ignorance of the law. "Democrats" did not break into his home. This is not "prosecutorial misconduct" because prosecutors don’t approve warrants. This search occurred because a federal judge found probable cause that evidence of a crime would be at Mar-a-Lago.
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Glenn Kirschner @glennkirschner2
The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s “home,” is a significant barrier broken - a maiden legal voyage. This increases the odds exponentially (IMO) that Trump WILL be indicted for the crimes he inarguably committed against the United States. Perhaps #JusticeIsComing after all.
https://twitter.com/glennkirschner2/status/1556782991837483008
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Right wingers on Faux Propaganda are going crazy over the news that Trump's Mar a Lago was raided by several FBI agents.
They are fasley trying to claim it's "politically motivated".
That's not how it works.
A federal judge signed off on this search because there has to be evidence of a crime.
The judge never would have signed off on this unless there was evidence of serious crimes.
That's how it works.
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I heard that Trump said that it doesn't matter what he does, he can get away with anything. He could shoot someone in board daylight and suffer no consequences. Is he delusional? I don't know. I must admit that at times, I think I suffer from the same delusion. That Trump can get away with anything. I hope that in the coming year, I will be disabused of this delusion. Time will tell.
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The DOJ and FBI totally waited until Donald Trump traveled to New York before they carried out the search warrant raid at Mar-a-Lago. They wanted to make sure he wasn't home at the time. They know what they're doing.
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What we know about the FBI search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home
Former President Donald Trump said Monday that Mar-a-Lago, the Florida club where he lives, is "currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents." Two sources confirmed to CBS News that the search was connected to White House records. Here's the latest.
Watch:
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Now that the Feds have managed to obtain a search and seizure warrant of Donald Trump's home, it suggests *someone* in Trump's orbit has been cooperating against him – and it continues to feel like it could be Mark Meadows. Certainly, Trump is sweating it.
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Donnie is not above the law but right wingers think he is.
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Donnie is not above the law but right wingers think he is.
The law has been so glacial slow that it's not just right wingers who wonder if Trump is above the law. But at last, something is starting to happen.
But I still worry about a trial. Particularly a jury trial. A single MAGA fan on the jury would derail the whole trial. And probably end up set up for life with a cushy job and other perks. The prosecution would try to weed them out. But prospective jurors could lie. And have a strong motive to do so.
I am not convinced that Trump is not above the law. And fear the possibility that some day, with the help of some MAGA Secretary of State, governors and attorney generals that he might someday become the law west of the Pecos, and east of the Pecos, for the rest of his life.
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BREAKING per WSJ: Part of the reason the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago was because agents believed there was still a lot more classified info there after the National Archives earlier retrieved 15 boxes of WH documents from there.
Agents took away approximately 10 MORE boxes!
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Right wingers are out in full force today attacking the FBI for doing their job.
QAnon quack Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling to "defund the FBI" and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened AG Merrick Garland.
It's clear the GOP only exists to cover up and protect Donald Trump from his crimes. They are not the party of "law and order".
The FBI only raids a home when they have evidence of a serious crime.
The GOP should practice what they preach.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZvzfkrVEAEjmKe?format=jpg&name=900x900)
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I heard that Trump said that it doesn't matter what he does, he can get away with anything. He could shoot someone in board daylight and suffer no consequences. Is he delusional? I don't know. I must admit that at times, I think I suffer from the same delusion. That Trump can get away with anything. I hope that in the coming year, I will be disabused of this delusion. Time will tell.
Sorry Joe, but Trump has rights. He's not above the law but he's not beneath it either. As in: where's the subpoena for these documents? I need some more specific information as to why this was necessary, that this was the only way to get them (assuming it was about these materials and not about 1/6), and that it was carried out properly. There are too many example of the FBI simply screwing things up to just accept their judgment. Whether it's Trump or the man in the moon.
After they exhaust these other usual methods then you can do this. Maybe they had to but I need more than just a say-so. Substitute someone you like for Trump and see if this is still acceptable? Maybe it is; but I'm not going to say it was fine without knowing more.
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If Donnie or his right wing sycophants claims the raid was a "witch hunt" then why doesn't he release the search warrant to the media?
If you commit a crime, yes, law enforcement will investigate and prosecute you.
The FBI isn't going to conduct a raid on Donnie's home unless the FBI has evidence of a serious crime. It takes a federal judge to agree to sign off on the search warrant in which the judge has to be convinced that there is evidence of a serious crime.
That's how the law works.
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Re: Trump and One-Percenters getting away with it
The TV series finale of "Ozark" had this ending scene, as a PI confronts in their backyard the criminal couple who had publicly "branded" themselves as One-Percenters who could buy state officials.
Thinking he has the upper-hand and evidence to put them away, the PI says: "You don't get to be the Kochs or the Kennedys. Or whatever f——g royalty you people think you are. World doesn't work like that."
"Since when?" Wendy replies, as her teenage son appears off to the side with a shotgun. Bang!
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Legal experts say Donnie will be indicted soon.
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Trump melts down as Feds raid Mar-A-Lago, MAGA nation braces for possible indictment
It’s never happened in U.S. history, federal agents searching the home of a former president. MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent, Ari Melber reports on the Trump Mar-a-Lago raid, how it sets a new legal precedent and “the thicket of legal implications” it has.
Watch:
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/trump-melts-down-as-feds-raid-mar-a-lago-maga-nation-braces-for-possible-indictment-145838149744
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The FBI has a confidential source within Donald Trump’s ranks with detailed knowledge of Mar-a-Lago, per Newsweek. You see why these DOJ probes take this long, right? It’s that complex. But at this point Trump can’t trust ANYONE around him. Closing in on all sides.
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The FBI seized about a dozen boxes in raid of Trump home in Florida. These are documents that Trump stole and stashed at Mar a lago which he refused to turn over after the National Archives ordered him to.
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The FBI issued subpoenas to multiple Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania today, per PennLive. It’s more clear than ever that the DOJ is in ramp up mode.
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Excellent Twitter thread on search warrants and subpoenas from an FBI veteran.
Peter Strzok @petestrzok
I used both consent and search warrants dozens of times over the course of my career to recover classified govt info - but never a subpoena. Let’s talk subpoenas and why they’re not used to recover classified material from those not authorized to have it.
Read: https://twitter.com/petestrzok/status/1557427667951128576
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Facts:
Rep. Eric Swalwell @RepSwalwell
Consider this: the FBI didn’t broadcast they searched Trump’s home. They didn’t even send agents in FBI jackets. The only reason we know it happened is because TRUMP told us. The FBI didn’t try to embarrass Trump. The guy who publicized it should be the one who shows the warrant.
https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1557541626947538945
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Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Raided by FBI: Everything We’ve Learned
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/08/donald-trump-says-the-fbi-raided-his-home-at-mar-a-lago.html
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The NY Times is reporting (today 8/11) this: "Former President Donald J. Trump received a subpoena this spring in search of documents that federal investigators believed he had failed to turn over earlier in the year, when he returned boxes of material he had improperly taken with him upon moving out of the White House, three people familiar with the matter said…"
If that's true and he refused to turn over the documents - assuming that was what was asked - then why is the raid not warranted? He's denying an authorized court order.
This happens every time: what we think we know on Day One changes with what we learn on Day Two and Three. Always need to wait before jumping ahead of ourselves. That would be, er, me.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland is making a statement today at 2:30pm eastern time. We'll see if this is about the DOJ's Trump investigation, or today's violent incident at the FBI Cincinnati field office, or something else. Tune in to find out.
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Merrick Garland says the DOJ has filed a motion to unseal the warrant for the Mar-a-Lago search.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1557806058818658305
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May be the biggest news of the day.
Could be Criminal Donald was selling access to these stolen documents like a guy selling stolen TVs out the back of a truck.
Steve Reilly @BySteveReilly
Significant that one of two DOJ officials who signed today's motion to unseal the Mar-a-Lago search warrant material is Jay Bratt, chief of DOJ's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZ52WDkXoAEYHmX?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/1557814138923061250
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LOCK HIM UP! Criminal Donald had nuclear documents in his possession.
FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago related to nuclear documents, sources say
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/
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FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for nuclear weapons papers, say reports
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/12/first-thing-fbi-searched-mar-a-lago-for-nuclear-weapons-documents-say-reports-trump
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The FBI warrant reveals Criminal Donald is under DOJ investigation for violating the Espionage Act.
Ahead of this afternoon’s court hearing, Criminal Donald has preemptively leaked his copy of the DOJ/FBI search warrant of Mar-a-Lago to Breitbart, in an apparent attempt at letting the right wing propaganda site place the most positive spin on it possible. But even Breitbart’s attempt at a sunny characterization of the warrant points to huge trouble for Donnie.
The warrant reveals that the seizure of classified documents from Trump’s home is part of a DOJ investigation into Trump for violating section 793 of the Espionage Act, along with obstruction and other crimes. This is obviously huge news, but when placed within proper context, it gets even uglier for Trump
This presumably means that the DOJ went to a federal judge and revealed that it was investigating Donald Trump for violating the Espionage Act, and the judge reviewed the relevant evidence and concluded that Trump was more likely guilty than not, and then signed the warrant.
It looks like Trump’s last ditch stunt of preemptively leaking the warrant to his pals at Breitbart didn’t help him any. Either Trump and his legal team didn’t understand how bad the reference to Section 793 was, or Breitbart didn’t selectively edit what it was supposed to selectively edit. Oops.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that this is in addition to the DOJ’s fairly well documented criminal probe into Criminal Donald's fake elector scheme and attempt at overthrowing the 2020 election. That’s right, espionage is just one of the major crimes that Trump is under federal criminal investigation for. This is just getting started.
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Criminal Donald may have been trying to sell our highest intelligence to our adversaries according to some sources.
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The rabid MAGA base wanted to throw Clinton in prison over private emails.
Criminal Donald stole the most sensitive top secret documents and is under criminal investigation of the Espionage Act and his deranged base still covers for him.
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Never in the history of the United States has an ex "president" been criminally investigated for espionage.
And the Republican party is defending this.
Republicans are traitors and unfit to govern America.
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Brian Entin @BrianEntin
Sources tell me the FBI took dozens of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago including TS/SCI information. That stands for Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information. It is among the most top secret level.
The top secret classified documents were found in former President Trump's office above the ballroom and a storage room off an interior hallway near the pool.
The storage room – I am told – is about 10x6 feet and there “were boxes everywhere.”
https://twitter.com/BrianEntin/status/1557913504388202496
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Hugo Lowell @hugolowell
NEW via Breitbart: Trump under investigation per search warrant for:
18 USC 2071 — Concealment, removal or mutilation
18 USC 793 — Gathering, transmitting or losing defence information
18 USC 1519 — Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations
https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1558161944552652801
Criminal Donald is in big trouble!
Here are the penalties Donnie will face for being convicted of these crimes:
2071: 3 years prison max and can’t hold office
793: (espionage act): 10 years prison max
1519: obstruction: 20 years prison max
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Rep. Eric Swalwell @RepSwalwell
If you’ve been aboard the Trump Train the last 7 years, you’ve been given an unexpected stop. Time to get off. Wherever you think this is going, it’s not. Trump stole Top Secret documents. He’s put a target on the backs of cops. This is getting ugly. Don’t be in the wreckage.
https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1558173258855247872
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Criminal Donald was warned. In writing. By his own attorney.
We know what happened.
Donnie illegally left the White House with huge amounts of documents he was not allowed to have.
Earlier this year after much prodding he gave some back.
After more prodding he returned more, and swore he had no more. He lied.
Now he should go to prison.
Jason Leopold @JasonLeopold
In October 2017, Stefan Passantino circulated a PRA compliance reminder around the WH and he noted: "Failure to abide by these requirements may lead to administrative penalties. The willful destruction or concealment of federal records is a federal crime."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaKPvAtUsAMq9bV?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaKPvJyVEAEHZRQ?format=jpg&name=900x900)
https://twitter.com/JasonLeopold/status/1558966463020408832
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Trump could face 10 years in prison if convicted of violating Espionage Act
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-could-face-10-years-prison-if-convicted-espionage-act-2022-8
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Donnie Says the Feds seized his passports a week ago
- Why is he just noticing this now?
- Was he planning to flee today?
- We're on Trump indictment watch now
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Laura Ingraham is dumping Donnie.
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MAGA is a deranged violent cult. People are now calling them domestic terrorists.
Online violent extremist rhetoric soars after Mar-a-Lago search
Hours before a man identified by two law enforcement sources as Ricky Shiffer died in standoff with law enforcement after he allegedly attempted to breach the FBI's Cincinnati field office on Thursday, Shiffer appeared to post on former President Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social to express his desire to kill federal agents.
The post, which has since been removed by the site's moderators, appeared shortly after the FBI searched the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday.
"When they come for you, kill them," the suspect wrote. "Be an American, not a steer."
Shiffer was in Washington, D.C., on or around Jan. 6, 2021, though he was not arrested following the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The posts represent a tiny fraction of violent extremist content flooding far-right message boards and social media platforms in the wake of the FBI's search of the Mar-a-Lago resort. Phrases including "civil war" and "lock and load" trended across Telegram channels, Gab, Reddit and TheDonald, a popular forum among Trump supporters. Also rising are antisemitic slurs threatening the Florida magistrate judge who signed the search warrant enabling the FBI to search for and remove boxes and documents of potentially classified material from the former president's home. At this point, the volume of the rhetoric hasn't reached the same levels seen in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 riot.
The threats ranged from attacks on the FBI and those involved in the case to calls for Trump supporters to take up arms against the government.
"Ballot box, soap box, jury box, and ammo box … options are getting limited," wrote one user. "Time to bear arms and take down the FBI," wrote another.
"There was just an explosion of angry rhetoric across right-wing media, across right-wing social media accounts," Jessica Reaves, the editorial director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center for Extremism, told CBS News. "What is most notable to us is the uniformity of the calls for civil war across, quote, unquote, extremist and … 'mainstream' platforms and from people on, you know, across the board, in the right wing space."
Reaves continued, "What we're seeing today is a volume and a sort of pitch that we've not seen … in certainly at least 18 months, maybe more."
Users on far-right platforms, pro-Trump message boards and Twitter threatened the Florida magistrate and shared what appear to be the judge's home address and phone numbers and names and photos of possible family members. The threats, first uncovered by the non-profit investigative group Advance Democracy Inc., were also shared on social media channels of the far-right militia group the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters, another militia group.
In addition, users have seized on reports that when he was practicing law, the judge represented employees of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, feeding into the false QAnon-driven narrative that there is a cabal of ped*philes and Satan-worshippers who run a global sex-trafficking operation.
The judge's biography page was taken offline this week after users on the far-right platforms "doxxed" the judge by posting his contact information alongside the threatening messages.
The anger surrounding Trump's false allegations about a stolen 2020 election has not subsided among his most loyal supporters, Rita Katz, CEO of Site Intelligence Group, which tracks extremists online, told CBS News, but she also said that the level of online extremism hasn't yet matched the pre-Jan. 6 furor.
Katz noted that, "While the incitements and themes of this dangerous discourse do indeed resemble those seen before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, we have not yet seen it reach the same volume and prevalence."
But she added, "There are many developments to come and we must not work under the naive assumption that a similar event couldn't happen again."
Although GOP lawmakers' language is more muted, extremism experts note that violent rhetoric mirrors ideas spread on far right platforms with statements painting the U.S. government as a "banana republic" or "police state."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis alleged law enforcement's action in Mar-a-Lago marked an "escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime's political opponents."
"Failure is not an option," Rep. Paul Gosar tweeted Monday. "We must destroy the FBI. We must save America. I stand with Donald J. Trump."
"One day what goes around is going to come around," wrote Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. "And then we become Nicaragua under Ortega," the Florida lawmaker added in an apparent comparison to the leader notorious for jailing political opponents.
At a press conference Thursday announcing his department was seeking permission from a federal judge to unseal the search warrant used by federal agents to seize documents from Trump, Attorney General Merrick Garland defended the work of FBI agents and those involved in the case.
"The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants," Garland said. "Every day, they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism, and other threats to their safety, while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves."
FBI Director Christopher Wray released a statement Thursday afternoon condemning the "violence and threats," adding that "unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law."
"Every day I see the men and women of the FBI doing their jobs professionally and with rigor, objectivity, and a fierce commitment to our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution," Wray wrote. " I am proud to serve alongside them."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/online-violent-extremist-rhetoric-soars-after-mar-a-lago-search/
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The FBI is now telling CBS News that it does not have Trump's passports. So who took his passports? Trump is falling apart at the seams.
Norah O'Donnell @NorahODonnell
NEW: According to a DOJ official, the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump's passports. Trump had accused the FBI of stealing his three passports during the search of his Mar-a-Lago home.
https://twitter.com/NorahODonnell/status/1559312970173259784
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Justice Dept asks court to keep Mar-a-lago search warrant affidavit UNDER SEAL. "Disclosure at this juncture of the affidavit supporting probable cause would, by contrast, cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation".
Justice Dept (more): "If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps".
Feds (more): "Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations".
Here's the Justice Dept court filing in Florida:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1559278692593029123/7bjVwE_Y?format=png&name=360x360)
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'They’re turning on you': Lincoln Project pokes at Trump's freakout over their last ad
The Lincoln Project triggered former President Donald Trump last week with an ad talking about the recent search for classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The ad last week questioned whether someone close to Trump had sold him out to the FBI and told the government about what was kept in the safe. The ad only appeared in Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump typically spends his summers.
On Tuesday, the Lincoln Project launched another ad in which they continued to mock Trump.
“We get it, Donald. You hate us,” a female narrator says. “And we’re not your biggest fans either … but in a funny way, we’re the only people you can trust."
The new ad is also only appearing on Fox News in Bedminster in a further move to target Trump himself and trigger his emotions.
“We told you that you’d lose, and you did," the ad continues, "that Mike Pence would stab you on the back on Jan. 6, and he did … how Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy were using your name for money and power."
It went even further, saying that they told him Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was coming for him, "and now he thinks he's bigger than you."
“They’re turning on you. All of them,” the voiceover closes. “We’d tell you we’re sad for you, but we always tell you the truth.”
Watch:
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FBI search warrant reveals agents seized top-secret documents in raid of Trump’s home
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/documents-taken-in-trump-raid-included-files-marked-top-secret-report-says.html
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Here's Every Trump Excuse For The Classified Mar-a-Lago Material
Chris Hayes: “Donald Trump and his allies have desperately attempted to spin this story. They have been frantically cycling through excuses, trying to come up with some explanation for why Trump had 11 sets of classified documents in his home at Mar-a-Lago.”
Watch:
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Hugo Lowell @hugolowell
NEW: Justice Dept asks to keep sealed the Mar-a-Lago affidavit to prevent revealing the direction of the criminal investigation — worsening distrust inside Trump’s circle that has no insight into where DOJ goes next. @GuardianUS
https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1559326602663788544
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Russian State Television calls Trump "their agent" because he is a Russian stooge.
Russian state TV's "Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov," host Vladimir Solovyov said: “I’m very worried for our agent Trump. They found everything at Mar-a-Lago, they got packages of documents."
And not a single Republican has said one word to oppose it.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-state-media-declares-our-agent-donald-trump-is-irreversibly-screwed
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Neal Katyal @neal_katyal
This is not just story #57, it is Trump confessing to the crime
If this report is accurate, Trump is saying he took these doc for his personal gain. It's no defense to say "the govt was going to be unfair." These are the govt's docs, not his. He doesn't get to hide them& benefit
https://twitter.com/neal_katyal/status/1559646633586982912
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Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday called on Republicans to stop attacking the nation’s top law enforcement agencies over the F.B.I.’s search of Mar-a-Lago.
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Rep. Adam Schiff weighs in on the raid at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/16/1116948823/rep-adam-schiff-weighs-in-on-the-raid-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-home
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So, the right wing media and right wing politicians are accusing President Biden and Merrick Garland of "weaponizing" the DOJ against Criminal Donald.
What an absolute joke.
Just another weak attempt to paint Criminal Donald as the victim to play to the gullible right wing base.
If you stole important financial documents from your company, you would be arrested and prosecuted because you broke the law.
Criminal Donald stole highly classified top secret documents that he had no business having in his possession. He lied to the authorities saying he gave back the documents when he was still in possession of them.
These are top secret nuclear documents that he could have shared with dictators like Putin and Kim Jung Un.
The right wing media and right wing politicians are supporting treason and espionage when they cover up for Criminal Donald and his treason.
These are the worst crimes against the United States and these right wingers have no problem with it.
The GOP is a cult and do not support the rule of law. Instead, they viciously attack and threaten our law enforcement officials to protect Criminal Donald from his treason.
The GOP is the party of Treason because they support and defend it.
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Majority of Americans support FBI’s raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-fbi-raid-americans-support-b2147176.html
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Rep. Adam Schiff weighs in on the raid at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/16/1116948823/rep-adam-schiff-weighs-in-on-the-raid-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-home
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Hugo Lowell @hugolowell
NEW: Unsealed Trump Mar-a-Lago search warrant application cover sheet offers the DOJ’s description of potential crimes:
— Wilful retention of national defense information
— Concealment or removal of govt records
— Obstruction of federal investigation
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1560346941753548800/1R623uGb?format=png&name=360x360)
https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1560348866167422978
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If you think you’re having a bad day, here’s a search warrant that was approved by a Trump appointed judge claiming 1. Evidence of a crime 2. Contraband, fruits of a crime, or other items illegally present.
Willful retention of national defense information is a BIG DEAL.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaeC2WeWQAIOGGI?format=jpg&name=small)
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This Timeline of Trumpworld Excuses Proves Mar-a-Lago Raid Week Was Even Stupider Than You Remember
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a40920146/fbi-raid-trump-mar-a-lago-classified-documents-excuses/
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Trump search warrant cites statutes that carry possible multiyear prison sentences
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/trump-search-warrant-cites-statutes-that-call-for-prison-sentences.html
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Anderson Cooper recounts — in disbelief — all of Trump’s debunked excuses for Mar-a-Lago documents
CNN's Anderson Cooper reported on the series of excuses Donald Trump has given since the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for classified documents with a chyron reading "keeping them honest" and "let's try *this* one."
"Good evening and welcome to what might be called the 'perfect phone call' stage in the latest scandal involving the former president," Cooper began. "You'll recall, 'perfect phone call' was the phrase the former president used to describe the call that got him impeached. The call in which he tried to strong-arm the president of Ukraine into helping him smear Joe Biden. He called it a perfect phone call after his supporters and enablers had made a slew of excuses about the call, none of which really held up."
"So the then-president embraced the call and said it that was perfect," Cooper reminded. "That is where we've landed tonight after two business weeks of unprecedented revelations since the FBI agents executed a lawful search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and came away with eleven sets of documents the former president was not entitled to have, including four sets of highly classified material."
"The president's one-time attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has now made the perfect phone call excuse," he said, playing a clip of the former New York City mayor on Newsmax.
Cooper said, "this perfect phone call excuse has come after an evolution of excuses made by the former president's supporters for having the files stashed at a country club."
He went on to play clips of Eric Trump, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as debunked other excuses.
Watch:
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Spiro Agnew’s Ghost @SpiroAgnewGhost
So a friend of mine who gets very good info told me hours before we found out publicly that there were high level top secret docs seized at Mar-A-Lago that one of the set of documents is so incredibly sensitive and top secret that they are at “codeword” level, which is insane.
https://twitter.com/SpiroAgnewGhost/status/1561064631929516032
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Hear what ex-Trump aide thinks is 'very serious' about Mar-a-Lago search
Former adviser to ex-Vice President Pence Olivia Troye and former Trump White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham react to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
Watch:
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Hear what ex-Trump aide thinks is 'very serious' about Mar-a-Lago search
Former adviser to ex-Vice President Pence Olivia Troye and former Trump White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham react to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
Watch:
Donnie is going down for stealing top secret classified information.
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FBI search warrant reveals agents seized top-secret documents in raid of Trump’s home
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/documents-taken-in-trump-raid-included-files-marked-top-secret-report-says.html
It is illegal for Donnie to have top secret classified information.
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Mar-a-Lago security was 'hit and miss' while Trump kept boxes of sensitive documents: NYT reporter
Appearing with MSNBC host Alex Witt on Sunday, the New York Times Peter Baker pointed out that security at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort was, at best, "hit and miss" when he visited at the time when the former president was still illegally hanging onto boxes loaded with sensitive government documents.
Host Witt asked him about the Florida resort and his trips there and what he saw while he was researching his book on the Trump presidency.
"Can you give us any sense of how secure the place is? Where there are a lot of people around, evidence of security standing around?" the MSNBC host asked. "Are there any areas that aren't easily accessible, which you feel would be blocked off from the average club member?"
"It's an interesting place, of course," Baker recalled. "This is not just a former president's estate, this is an active club and hotel basically for his paying guests."
"When he was there we did interviews with him after he left office at Mar-a-Lago and the security was sort of hit-or-miss," he continued. "One time we were screened and one time we weren't and I think it kind of depends on the day. The Secret Service still protects him as they do all former presidents but they are not concerned so much with the property and things on the property as they are with him -- with the former president himself and his family."
"They are not responsible for guarding documents, let's say, and keeping club members from wandering into places that they might not necessarily be supposed to go," he continued. "It's a big place, I don't know where exactly he kept these documents they said are supposed to be in a safe with a double lock the authorities told them they did not think it was secure enough. But it is an active place with lots of people coming and going who do not get screened in a criminal background kind of way."
"We saw during the presidency," he recalled. "A woman showed up there, I think, with surveillance equipment, and did not have any kind of permission to be there, managed to get on the property anyway. I think there has always been concerns for security authorities as to how tightly and secure that place is."
Watch:
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#TrumpStoleTheDocs is trending on Twitter.
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Donald Trump stole more than 300 classified documents, including classified information from the CIA, FBI, and NSA, per the New York Times. No one needs classified CIA documents to write a memoir. Trump stole them for espionage purposes. Lock him up and throw away the key!
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In the two weeks since the Feds seized classified documents that Donald Trump had stolen and hidden in his home, his apologists have floated various excuses for why he had the documents. One of the most popular narratives has been that Trump simply wanted to use the documents to help him remember his time in office so he could write a memoir. But new reporting shatters that narrative.
Trump stole more than three hundred classified documents in total, including documents that were classified by the NSA and CIA, according to a new report tonight from the New York Times. These agencies don’t deal in the kind of somewhat harmless, just barely classified documents that Trump’s allies have suggested he took. These agencies deal in state secrets.
Moreover, the NYT is now confirming that Trump personally went through at least some of these boxes of classified documents. And while Trump did voluntarily turn over some of the classified documents earlier this year, the Feds ended up seizing documents that were at the “highest level of classification” – meaning Trump kept the good stuff for himself.
This new reporting also confirms that not one but two of Donald Trump’s lawyers signed a statement for the Feds earlier this year, asserting that all the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago had been returned. If it can be proven that they knew there were still dozens of boxes of classified information in Trump’s home at the time they signed that statement, then they’ll face criminal charges themselves, and they’ll have to decide whether to flip on Trump.
But let’s not lose track of the real headline here. Donald Trump didn’t just steal souvenirs that happened to be classified. He stole secrets that had been classified by the CIA and NSA. We’re talking state secrets here. We still don’t know if Trump actually tried to sell these secrets or blackmail anyone with them. But you don’t steal state secrets from the CIA unless you have really ugly intentions. No wonder the DOJ has classified this as an espionage investigation in its unsealed search warrant of Trump’s home.
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Criminal Donald had no business having these top secret documents in his possession.
Documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago were among government's most classified, letter shows
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/23/national-archives-letter-trump-security-00053250
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DOJ wants to see more security video from Mar-a-Lago after FBI search: report
The Department of Justice has subpoenaed more security video from Mar-a-Lago in a sign that "officials are not certain whether they have recovered all the presidential records," The New York Times reported Monday evening.
Unnamed sources told the publication that officials are seeking additional footage in the wake of the FBI's August 8 raid on Donald Trump's Palm Beach resort, signaling that the agency is still scrutinizing the manner in which Trump allegedly took the documents from the White House at the end of his tenure.
Trump claims that he had the right to take the documents and that he declassified them while still in office -- a suggestion that has been dismissed by former White House officials as untrue.
According to the New York Times, over 300 documents were taken by Trump from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.
FBI agents seized documents marked "Top Secret," "Secret" and "Confidential" during the search of Trump's palatial residence.
The search warrant for the raid, which was personally approved by Attorney General Merrick Garland, directed the FBI to seize documents and records "illegally possessed" in violation of three criminal statutes, including one falling under the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to illegally obtain or retain national security information.
Trump vehemently denounced the FBI raid on his home as a "witch hunt" and claimed that all of the material confiscated during the search had been previously "declassified."
Trump is also facing legal scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the results of the November 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
AFP
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'Sounds like a very big job': MSNBC uncovers video of Trump praising National Archivist Debra Steidel
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MSNBC's "The Last Word" on Tuesday played a clip of then-President Donald Trump praising current acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall.
"Well, Donald Trump's continuing, unsolvable lifetime problem is that stupid attracts stupid," host Lawrence O'Donnell said. "That is why Donald Trump has always been surrounded by stupidity and now that Donald Trump has painted himself into the corner of the first ex-president under multiple criminal investigations, Donald Trump is surrounded now by nothing but stupid."
"And that is why the Trump sycophants decided it was a good idea to make public a letter from the national archives to one of Donald Trump's lawyers, written three months before the FBI obtained a search warrant for government documents at Donald Trump's Florida home," O'Donnell said.
"Releasing that letter was a profoundly stupid thing to do," he argued. "Here is Donald Trump in the last year of his presidency introducing the person who wrote that letter and who in effect called in the FBI to go after the Trump documents."
O'Donnell played a clip of Trump at the White House on Aug. 18, 2020.
"Debra Steidel Wall, deputy archivist of the United States," Trump said.
"That sounds like a very big job," Trump continued. "That's a lot of archives, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," Wall replied.
"How many buildings does that take up, right? Great, great job, I hear you do a great job, thank you very much."
Watch:
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Sorry Donnie, those aren't "your" documents. Is Donnie trying to sell them to the highest bidder? Lock this criminal up!
Trump tells attorneys: Get 'my' classified documents back from the DOJ
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump.jpg?id=30004831&width=800&height=450)
On Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported that former President Donald Trump is privately demanding that his lawyers help him get "my" classified documents back from the Justice Department, after they were seized in an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
"Trump wasn’t merely referring to the alleged trove of attorney-client material that he insists was scooped up by the feds, two people familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone," reported Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley. "The ex-president has been demanding that his team find a way to recover 'all' of the official documents that Trump has long referred to as 'mine' — including the highly sensitive and top secret ones."
"Sources close to Trump agree with outside legal experts that such a sweeping legal maneuver would be a long-shot, at best. 'I hate to break it to the [former] president, but I do not think he is going to get all [the] top-secret documents back,' says one Trump adviser. 'That ship has probably sailed,'" said the report. "Further, several longtime Trump advisers say they want absolutely nothing to do with the now-infamous boxes of documents, fearing that any knowledge of them could invite an unwanted knock on the door from the feds. 'Who would want any of that back? … If it is what they say it is, keep them the hell away,' a second adviser says."
According to previous reports, some of the documents are classified at the highest level, and may involve nuclear weapons secrets.
Another recent report indicated that Trump had over 300 classified documents stashed at Mar-a-Lago — and that he personally sorted through all the documents to determine which ones he wanted to hold back from the National Archives, a potential sign he was aware of the risk to national security but went through with it anyway.
"The former president’s office claimed recently that Trump had issued a so-called 'standing order' to automatically declassify any materials taken from the West Wing in order to facilitate a flexible work schedule for the then-president," said the report. "Thus far, no Trump administration veterans have come forward to attest to the existence of the legally questionable order. But it has prompted, as Rolling Stone reported last week, FBI agents to begin questioning former members of the Trump National Security Council about whether they have any recollection of such an order."
Read more here:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-tells-lawyers-get-my-top-secrets-documents-back-1234580501/
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'Very damning letter': John Dean reacts to letter sent to Trump's legal team
Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean says the letter released by the National Archives showing it told former President Donald Trump's legal team in May informing them that it was sharing hundreds of pages of classified material it had retrieved in January with the FBI, so that an assessment could be done on potential damage from how the classified documents had been handled, is very damning.
Watch: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/08/24/john-dean-national-archives-trump-letter-reaction-ebof-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/
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After the DOJ had the FBI carry out a search and seizure warrant at Donald Trump’s home, he spent two weeks focusing on trying to force the release of the search warrant affidavit. It was a blatant attempt on his part at finding out who within his orbit has been secretly cooperating with the Feds against him. That effort predictably failed.
But as is often the case in these types of situations, multiple major media outlets also requested a redacted version of the affidavit, so they could report on it. Generally speaking, the media will always gladly take any information it can get in these situations, without regard for whether it helps or hurts either side. So if this judge had decided to give the media an overly revealing version of the affidavit, this would be a de facto win for Donald Trump, even though he wasn’t the one making this specific request.
This week the judge asked the DOJ to submit a version of the affidavit that it felt was sufficiently redacted so as to protect its ongoing investigation into Trump. Today the judge approved the DOJ’s redactions. This means that when the redacted affidavit is released tomorrow, it’ll include only the precise information that the DOJ is willing to put out there about the case, and nothing that the DOJ is still looking to keep secret.
This would have been a win for Donald Trump if the judge had rejected the DOJ’s proposed redactions and instead ordered the release of a more revealing version of the affidavit. But this ruling is a loss for Trump. The media’s effort to unseal the affidavit was Trump’s last best chance at finding out anything about the DOJ’s case against him that the DOJ doesn’t want him to know – and that affidavit just went down the drain.
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Lock Him Up!
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In hindsight, taking the biggest criminal in history and making him President of the United States wasn’t the best idea.
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Trump’s “We gave them much” defense isn’t the clever trick he thinks it is. He’s confessing that he knew he had the documents, he knew the federal government had demanded them back, and that he only returned some of them. DOJ will use his “we gave them much” post at his trial.
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Mark August 26, 2022 down in history
Affidavit says this about a former President's residence:
"Probable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation will be found at the premises".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbGeCaBXwAAxoji?format=jpg&name=medium)
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Trump will be indicted': Mar-a-Lago affidavit spells trouble for the former president and decimates his main defense
(https://i.insider.com/62fa14daf16a0d0018e67d10?width=1300&format=jpeg&auto=webp)
A federal magistrate judge on Friday unsealed a redacted version of an FBI affidavit that legal experts said is a damning blow to former President Donald Trump as he's investigated over his handling of sensitive records.
Significant portions of the document were blacked out to conceal information about witnesses, sources and methods, grand jury details, and the overall size and scope of the department's inquiry.
Still, the affidavit contained telling clues about why investigators took the extraordinary step of executing a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month. It also revealed the extent to which officials tried using less intrusive measures to get Trump to hand over government records that were improperly stored at his Florida residence.
"There certainly existed probable cause to believe that the former president retained classified documents in violation of the applicable statute in a place that was not secure according to the regulations," David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor from the Southern District of Florida, told Insider.
"This hurts him more than this helps him," he added.
Norm Eisen, the ethics czar under former President Barack Obama, wrote after going through the affidavit that "even redacted it is absolutely damning."
"People are likely going to jail for this conduct," he said.
Some national security veterans went a step further, directly calling out the 45th president and suggesting there may be a first-ever criminal case against a former chief executive.
"I have seen enough, folks," Bradley Moss, a prominent Washington, DC, national security lawyer, wrote on Twitter. "Donald Trump will be indicted in the classified documents matter. I'm placing my marker."
Here are some key details from the affidavit:
- A National Archives review of 15 boxes of government records that Trump turned over in January found that they contained "newspapers, magazines, printed news articles, photos, miscellaneous print-outs, notes, presidential correspondence, personal and post-presidential records, and 'a lot of classified records.'"
- The "most significant concern" for NARA was that "highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records, and otherwise unproperly [sic] identified."
- There were 184 documents with classification markings in the boxes: 25 were marked top-secret, 92 were marked secret, and 67 were marked confidential.
- Several of the documents contained what appears to be [Trump's] handwritten notes," the affidavit said.
Perhaps just as noteworthy, the Justice Department revealed in a brief accompanying the affidavit that it is keeping portions of the records related to the Mar-a-Lago search sealed to protect a "significant number of civilian witnesses."
Barbara McQuade, the former US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, told Insider that language suggests "people inside Trump's former administration or at Mar-a-Lago are providing information to the FBI."
The brief also said the government has probable cause to believe "that a statute prohibiting obstruction of justice has been violated," and that there is a heightened risk of violence against FBI agents and other law enforcement personnel in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago search.
A footnote undermines Trump's main defense
Alan Dershowitz, the conservative lawyer who represented Trump in his Senate impeachment trial, told Insider that "there's no doubt" the FBI had probable cause to search Mar-a-Lago.
He added that "there may be enough there for an indictment," but he doesn't think Trump will ultimately be charged because in the past, "people who have done similar things have not been indicted."
Dershowitz also predicted that Trump's legal team will try to argue that he had declassified all the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago, but that such a defense "will have to be based in fact."
Indeed, details contained in the redacted affidavit about the classification markings fly in the face of Trump's claim that he had declassified everything. CNN also spoke to 18 former White House aides and advisors this month, none of whom had heard of any standing declassification order.
And McQuade, the former US attorney, pointed out that the affidavit said some of the classified materials Trump had in his possession were marked ORCON, or "originator controlled," meaning they cannot be declassified without the permission of the agency they came from.
More importantly, though, even if Trump had declassified the materials in his possession, it likely wouldn't matter — and the FBI's affidavit said as much.
Specifically, it pointed out that Section E of the Espionage Act, one of the three laws Trump is suspected of having violated, makes it a crime to retain any government records pertaining to the US's national defense, regardless of classification level:
(https://i.insider.com/63090939ac29c200193e72b8?width=1200&format=jpeg&auto=webp)
A footnote from the FBI's affidavit points out that information does not have to be classified to be covered under the Espionage Act. Department of Justice
The other two federal statutes Trump's suspected of having broken — 18 USC Section 2071 and 18 USC Section 1519 — criminalize the concealment, removal, and destruction of government records, also regardless of classification level.
Shanlon Wu, a longtime former federal prosecutor, told Insider that Trump's lawyers are "barking up the wrong tree by focusing only on classification."
He noted that in addition to the fact that the laws Trump is suspected of violating don't depend on classification, the redacted portions of the affidavit could detail why federal officials didn't believe they could trust Trump's lawyers when they said that all classified material had been turned back over to the government.
Overall, the FBI recovered more than two dozen boxes of official government records between January and this month, when they searched Mar-a-Lago.
Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ruled to release the affidavit on Thursday, a decision that was in and of itself significant.
Typically, affidavits aren't released until formal charges are filed in an investigation. But former prosecutors say the unusual circumstances of this case, coupled with intense public interest in the matter, likely weighed in favor of the document's release for Reinhart.
"This is huge," said one former DOJ official, who requested anonymity to candidly discuss the case. "But there's so much distrust in the Justice Department and the FBI, and if you keep a document like this hidden, the conspiracy theories just breed themselves."
"Let it out and show it the light of day," they added. "Of course it has to be redacted, but people need to see that [US officials] tried multiple times to get these highly classified documents, that Trump wouldn't give them up, and they were just sitting in a basement in Florida."
Trump, for his part, had repeatedly and publicly called for the release of the FBI's affidavit.
He put out a statement after it was released on Friday, accusing the FBI and DOJ of a "public relations subterfuge" and recycling claims of political persecution and bias.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mar-a-lago-fbi-affidavit-signals-trump-could-get-indicted-2022-8
Explosive report claims a phony Rothschild heiress infiltrated Mar-a-Lago and Trump’s inner circle
(https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5b6b264970103240c58968a7/master/pass/donald-trump-mar-a-lago.jpg)
An explosive new report from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette claims that the FBI is investigating a Russian-speaking Ukrainian immigrant named Inna Yashchyshyn who allegedly gained repeated access to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort under a fake identity.
According to the Post-Gazette's sources, Yashchyshyn got access to Mar-a-Lago by posing as a member of the famous Rothschild banking family, and she worked to look the part by "donning designer clothes, a Rolex watch, and driving a $170,000 black Mercedes-Benz SUV."
Yashchyshyn's case first came to the attention of federal authorities when she got into a legal dispute with a former associate that led to a court battle that exposed her frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago.
Yashchyshyn, who speaks multiple languages, had previously worked for an adoption agency that specialized in helping pregnant Russian women get American citizenship for their babies by having them come to the United States.
The partner testified in a court affidavit that Yashchyshyn used "her fake identity as Anna de Rothschild to gain access to and build relationships with U.S. politicians, including but not limited to Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, and Eric Greitens."
In fact, there is even a photo of Yashchyshyn at Mar-a-Lago standing on the golf course with both Trump and Graham.
In an interview with the Post-Gazette, Yashchyshyn denies that she ever entered Mar-a-Lago using a phony alias and she said her partner claimed that in order to harm her personally.
Nonetheless, the FBI is still investigating her as a potential foreign intelligence threat.
Charles Marino, a former Secret Service supervisor, tells the paper that "the question is was it a fraud or an intelligence threat,” and then added that "the fact that we are asking this question is a problem."
Read the full report at this link:
https://newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/anna-de-rothschild-trump-mar-a-lago-security-fbi-investigation/
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U.S. intelligence officials will assess the materials taken from Mar-a-Lago
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence will review materials taken from former President Donald Trump's home in Florida for potential national security risks.
A spokesperson for ODNI told NPR that intelligence leaders will assess what level of harm could come from releasing documents seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
"ODNI will closely coordinate with [the Justice Department] to ensure this [Intelligence Community] assessment is conducted in a manner that does not unduly interfere with DOJ's ongoing criminal investigation," the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, a federal judge said she is inclined to grant Trump's request to appoint a special master to oversee the search of the seized material.
The decision is not final, and U.S. District Judge Aileen Gannon also told the Justice Department to produce "a more detailed" list of the items that were taken from Mar-a-Lago.
This is an initial step in a legal process that will span weeks.
Lawmakers back the intelligence community's move
Rep. Adam Schiff, who chairs the House intelligence committee, and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, who chairs the House oversight and reform committee, praised the intelligence community for their assessment in a joint statement.
"The DOJ affidavit, partially unsealed yesterday, affirms our grave concern that among the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago were those that could endanger human sources," they said. "It is critical that the [Intelligence Community] move swiftly to assess and, if necessary, to mitigate the damage done—a process that should proceed in parallel with DOJ's criminal investigation."
A redacted version of the affidavit used by the FBI to search the former president's home was made available Friday, nearly half of which was unreadable, NPR has reported.
According to the affidavit, 184 classified documents were found among 15 boxes taken from the resort earlier this year. Twenty-five of the documents were labeled "Top Secret."
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/27/1119827517/trump-mar-a-lago-documents-seized-odni-intelligence-assessment
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Criminal Donald is now threatening to incite violence in retaliation for the DOJ investigating him. Threats like that are evidence of consciousness of guilt. All it does is motivate the DOJ to arrest him sooner, and it increases the odds of his conviction at trial.
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CNN analyst: 25 'top secret' documents could 'cause exceptionally grave damage to national security' if released
CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams explains how the storage of 25 'top secret' and other 'secret' documents found at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort could threaten US national security..
Watch:
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/08/26/top-secret-classified-documents-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-affidavit-unsealed-fbi-vpx.cnn
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The Washington Post reported that Criminal Donald took boxes of classified documents with him to enemy nations.
MAGA morons have no problem with this as they seem not to care about our national security or the safety of Americans.
These people are deranged and believe their criminal cult leader can do whatever he wants even if it harms our country.
Criminal Donald criminally violated the Espionage Act just by having certain documents in his home, regardless of their classification or declassification status, and regardless of what he did or didn’t do with the documents. But even with Donnie having already punched his ticket to prison no matter how this plays out, one big question is just what Donnie was doing (or trying to do) with those documents.
Buried deep into a new Washington Post article is this sentence: “Boxes of documents even came with Trump on foreign travel, following him to hotel rooms around the world — including countries considered foreign adversaries of the United States.”
When this scandal first surfaced, the first thing most of us thought about was whether Donnie might have been sharing or selling these documents to Putin or Kim Jong Un, for personal gain. And now we know that, at the least, Donnie was indeed taking boxes of classified documents with him to enemy nations.
The DOJ, the CIA, and others are surely working on trying to piece together just what Donnie was really doing with all those classified documents when he took them into enemy territory. As expected, this just keeps getting uglier for Criminal Donald.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/27/trump-archives-records-war/
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GOP senator: Trump should have turned over ‘all’ documents
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3618788-gop-senator-trump-should-have-turned-over-all-documents/
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Chris Christie says Trump was wrong to take classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago home
Former Gov. Chris Christie stepped up his criticism of Donald Trump in the wake of the FBI’s raid of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, saying it was wrong for him to have brought classified documents to his home.
“It shouldn’t be a hard thing to say, you know, so I’ll say it,” Christie said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week. “That’s wrong for you to take top secret, classified documents back to your house.”
“When I was U.S. attorney, it was wrong for me to do; when I was governor, it was wrong for me to do,” he said. “And when you’re president, it’s wrong for you to do.”
Christie and Trump are longtime friends and fellow Republicans. But they also ran against each other for the 2016 GOP nomination for president and could be rivals again for the party’s nod in 2024.
Most Republicans have turned their ire on the FBI for searching Trump’s house, not on the former president. Christie earlier said that the FBI search of Trump’s safe for classified materials was “fair game.”
“It’s not anything that’s out of bounds to go into a safe and it happens frequently in federal law enforcement,” he said earlier this month on SiriusXM.
On ABC, he again defended the Justice Department’s actions.
“Should they get the documents back? Absolutely,” he said. “And whatever they needed to do to get those documents back they should have done.”
Christie didn’t express surprise at reports that Trump was finding it difficult to hire lawyers to represent him in this case. His current legal team includes Alina Habba, partner in a Bedminster law firm, the Washington Post reported.
“Lawyers take clients for two reasons, either because they think it’s a good case or they think they’re going to get paid. With Donald Trump it’s neither, OK?” Christie said. “The case is not good and he has a reputation for not paying his lawyers. He’s developed that well-earned reputation over the course of time.”
© Advance Local Media LLC.
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Spies May Have Targeted Documents 'Mishandled' by Trump: Ex-CIA Official
Former Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell on Sunday warned that spies might have targeted classified documents "mishandled" by former President Donald Trump.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence on August 8, 2022 and seized 20 boxes containing classified documents that were allegedly taken when Trump left the White House in January 2021. Although much about what classified information was retrieved, experts have raised security concerns about the vulnerability of classified information not being stored properly.
Morell, who served as the second-highest ranking official for the Central Intelligence Agency from 2010 to 2013, said Sunday that the classified documents would have been vulnerable to spies working for foreign countries, including potential adversaries—but he added the documents may have been vulnerable before being taken to the Palm Beach, Florida property.
"So, I think they were vulnerable, even at the White House, since they seem to have been mishandled at the White House as well, right? We have to look at that, as well as Mar-a-Lago," he said during an appearance on CBS News' 'Face the Nation.'
At any given point, there is an average of four Americans spying for foreign intelligence services without the knowledge of U.S. officials—and more never even get caught Morell said.
"So, there's a lot of spying going on in Washington, right? And if you're a foreign intelligence service, and you want to target the United States government, what's the number one place you want to target? The White House."
Morell called on investigators to look into whether documents were accessed by those without clearance both at Mar-a-Lago and the White House. Many people who work inside the White House do not have a top secret clearance "so you have to worry about who had access to those documents who didn't have a clearance to do so," he said
While he worked for the CIA under both former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, there were "very rigorous and strict protocols with regard to the handling of classified information," Morell said.
He said he became concerned about how the documents were being stored at the White House when he read the heavily-redacted affidavit related to the search released on Friday.
"The first was the fact that these documents were mixed in with unclassified documents. You had classified documents in the vast majority of the boxes. That suggested to me a sloppiness in the handling of classified documents at the White House," he said.
Questions about what exactly were in the boxes remain, but officials have raised concerns that information related to nuclear weapons may have been among the classified information. The affidavit released on Friday said the FBI found more than 100 classified documents in the boxes they took from Mar-a-Lago.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office for comment.
https://www.newsweek.com/spies-may-have-targeted-documents-mishandled-trump-ex-cia-official-1737645
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DOJ completes review of Trump documents
While former President Donald Trump's legal team pushes for specical master oversight, the Department of Justice completed its review of the documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago. (Aug. 29)
Watch:
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There's a reason why hoarding classified documents is a crime
The National Archives and the Department of Justice gave too much deference to Trump and for far too long
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/what-do-labels-classified-documents-mean-does-trump-have-defense-n1298387
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In the three weeks since the DOJ had the FBI carry out a search and seizure warrant at Donald Trump’s home for the classified documents he stole, we’ve said it was anybody’s guess as to when the DOJ would decide to indict and arrest Trump. There’s been the primary question of when the classified documents charges will be procedurally ready to go. And there’s the secondary question of whether the DOJ will indict Trump now for the classified documents scandal and then indict him later on 1/6-related and election related charges, or if the DOJ will wait until it has all the charges lined up against Trump before bringing any of them. Now we’re suddenly getting what may, or may not, be hints of what’s coming.
First the DOJ revealed on Monday that it’s already finished sorting the documents it seized from Trump’s home. This revelation was further explained by reporting on Monday evening that the DOJ had been lining this up since May, so that once it did seize the documents, it could process them immediately, despite their sensitive nature and limited access.
Then the DOJ asked the judge for permission to make a whopping forty page filing about the criminal case it’s built against Trump – a rare move – and the judge agreed. This suggests the DOJ is looking to dump a ton of information out there about Trump’s guilt, so that the public will have a full sense of what Trump has done wrong, and what’s coming.
So is this truly a sign that the DOJ is preparing to imminently indict Donald Trump? That’s still anyone’s guess, depending on how one interprets the above moves. Just for kicks, there’s also President Biden’s primetime speech this Thursday, during which he’s expected to touch on Trump’s extremism. And Trump’s money man Tom Barrack reportedly just parted ways with his criminal defense attorney ahead of his trial. It’s being blamed on scheduling issues, but changing an attorney just before a trial can sometimes be a precursor to cutting a plea deal.
So those dominoes are all worth watching. It could be that they’re all just coincidental, aren’t set to knock each other over, and aren’t a sign that anything is imminent. But they could also be a sign that the DOJ really is on the verge of arresting Trump, and that everyone else is making moves accordingly. Stay tuned.
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These days Donald Trump routinely melts down on his failed social network Truth Social, but any media worth their salt will only occasionally cover it, because most of it either doesn’t deserve public exposure or is too incoherent to even try to parse. But after the DOJ got the best of Trump in court yesterday, Trump woke up this morning and had his most unhinged meltdown to date. Notably, his meltdown appears to have just cost him dearly.
Various folks have counted it up and determined that Donald Trump has posted on his social network more than sixty times thus far today. More to the point, his posts have been even more inappropriately deranged than usual. He’s been posting full QAnon stuff. He called for martial law. He shared a supposed tweet from his own daughter that wasn’t even real. And that’s just the half of it.
After Trump went on his morning bender, Google announced right around lunchtime that it was banning the Truth Social Android app from its Google Play app store. Google says that this is because the app “standards for content moderation.” But given Google’s lack of action on the moderation front up to this point, and its sudden move after Trump’s dangerous meltdown this morning, it’s pretty clear why Google pulled the trigger today.
So now Trump has cost himself the ability to reach the second biggest mobile platform through an app – and there’s now a good chance Apple will do the same with its App Store. That would cut Trump off from reaching virtually anyone through an app. Users can still theoretically view his social network through a mobile browser. But his social network was getting minimal reach to begin with, and now he’s just cost himself one of his key distribution channels. He’s self destructing in real time, and this is before the DOJ indicts him!
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DOJ releases photos of highly classified documents it seized from Trump’s home, which were mixed in with framed Time Magazine covers. DOJ just proved Trump guilty of narcissism and espionage at the same time. Lock him up!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbdcVXQWAAEI7yS?format=jpg&name=medium)
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Remember, this filing is officially for the DOJ to prove to the judge that Trump’s special master request is invalid.
But the DOJ received permission to make a forty page filing, and is using it to unofficially show the public just how guilty Trump is.
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DOJ says it seized some of the classified documents from inside Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago desk.
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The DOJ waited until nearly midnight eastern time before filing its forty page response in the Donald Trump classified documents case. Officially, this filing was to convince a judge that Trump’s belated request for a special master is pointless. Unofficially, the filing was the DOJ’s opportunity to show the public just how guilty Trump is, without having to so much as hold a press conference.
Now that the filing has been released, let’s just say that it should be enough to put Trump away for a long, long time. The DOJ included photos of highly classified documents, clearly identified by their cover sheets, that were found in boxes amongst (possibly fake) framed Time Magazine covers of Trump. So in that sense the DOJ just proved Trump guilty of narcissism and espionage at the same time. But it gets far worse.
The filing also reveals that the DOJ found classified documents inside Donald Trump’s personal desk at Mar-a-Lago. This is the part that erases any reasonable doubt argument he might have tried to make when this gets to trial. Even if he tried to claim that someone on his staff stole those boxes of classified documents and took them to Mar-a-Lago without Trump’s knowledge, this would never explain why some of the documents were inside Trump’s desk. This is, in effect, game over.
But it gets worse for Trump. The filing also reveals that Trump received a grand jury subpoena for all of the classified documents several months ago. This means that when Trump only turned over some of the documents and falsely claimed that they were all of the documents he didn’t merely defy a DOJ request; he defied a grand jury subpoena. That’s textbook felony obstruction of justice.
Now we’re officially on Trump indictment watch. It’s coming. It’s anyone’s guess as to when. It could be next week or next year. But the DOJ doesn’t get this deep into an espionage and obstruction probe without bringing charges. Donald Trump knows it too, which is why he spent all of Tuesday having the meltdown of a lifetime. Now he’s staring at life in prison.
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After the DOJ had the FBI carry out a search and seizure warrant for the classified documents that Donald Trump stole and hid in his home, Trump complained that they’d also seized his passports. What did this mean? Were they trying to keep him from fleeing the country? Were they merely in with the boxes of seized documents? Now it turns out it’s a different, and rather damning, answer.
This new DOJ filing reveals that the Feds found clearly labeled classified documents in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago desk, making it much harder for him to argue that he somehow wasn’t involved in the theft and transport of these documents. The DOJ also found Trump’s passports in that desk, and took them as proof that this was indeed Trump’s desk. This passage flagged by the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell is key: “The location of the passports is relevant evidence.”
NEW: DOJ says FBI found one current and one expired official passport, and one expired personal passport, with classified documents in a desk drawer — seemingly tying Trump himself to the unauthorized retention of govt docs: “The location of the passports is relevant evidence”
https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1564965683196268549
In other words, if you’re Donald Trump, and you have classified documents in the same desk drawer that you keep your passports in, then you’re clearly treating those classified documents as your own personal property. This will help erase any reasonable doubt arguments that Trump will try to make at trial.
This is all before getting to the question of whether Trump might have been planning to flee the country, and whether he might have intended to take those specific passport-adjacent classified documents with him. Anyone who’s this deep into the process of being criminally indicted for espionage is surely being watched by the DOJ to make sure he doesn’t try to flee. But would Trump know that?
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When the DOJ asked the judge for special permission to file a whopping forty page response to Donald Trump’s request for a special master, it was pretty clear that the DOJ was looking to publicly spell out just how guilty Trump is.
Now that the filing has surfaced, it’s even more clear where this is headed. Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissman summed it up this way on Twitter: “You don’t make a filing this strong, bold, and factually accusatory if you don’t have every intention to indict.”
He’s correct, of course. The DOJ didn’t need to put forty pages out there publicly, just to get a judge to realize it’s too late for a special master to do anything; that could have been accomplished in five paragraphs. This filing was the DOJ’s big chance to educate the public on just how guilty Trump is, and the DOJ eagerly jumped all over that chance.
This filing clearly takes things past the point of no return, and if the DOJ weren’t already 100% certain that it’s going to criminally charge Trump over this, it wouldn’t have made this filing. The only question is when it’ll happen – and even that answer is far less important than the reality that the DOJ has indeed already decided to charge him.
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The best advice any lawyer could give to Donald Trump right now would be to shut up before he incriminates himself further. Of course Trump appears to be surrounded by lawyers so bad that some of them are now also implicated by the Department of Justice. So naturally, Trump is doing the dumbest thing he can do right now, which is to run his mouth.
To that end, Trump is trying to push the laughable argument that the DOJ and FBI tried to make him look bad when they posted a photograph of clearly-labeled top secret documents that they’d found in a carton alongside some of his personal effects. Trump’s argument is that the Feds strewed the items around to make Trump look disorganized, or something. The trouble? Well, see if you can spot it:
Renato Mariotti @renato_mariotti
Trump's admission that the classified material was "in cartons" at his residence is evidence of his guilt.
It would be like a defendant taking issue with a FBI photo showing bricks of cocaine on the floor of his residence instead of "in cartons." It admits possession.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbhZ35RXEAEnBON?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/1565101591891480576
That’s right, in his attempt at seizing control of the narrative, it looks like Donald Trump just screwed up and confessed. By stating that he had the classified documents in cartons, he’s admitting that he knew he had classified documents in his possession. This may seem trivial in the world of social media, but it’s the kind of thing that will help get him convicted at trial.
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Conservative Karl Rove corrects Fox News host: 'None of these government documents are his'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/karl-rove.jpg?id=31374089&width=2400&height=1350)
Republican Karl Rove on Wednesday forced a Fox News host to face the fact that Donald Trump took documents that didn't belong to him.
Documents at former US president Donald Trump's Florida home were "likely concealed" to obstruct an FBI probe into his potential mishandling of classified materials, the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday.
Before the raid, the FBI uncovered "multiple sources of evidence" showing that "classified documents" remained at Mar-a-Lago, the filing says.
"The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed... and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation," the filing adds.
Responding to the latest news, Fox News host Martha MacCallum cited Trump's talking point that the documents seized by the FBI were his and further claimed that he declassified what he took.
"The Trump side has their lawyers and their feelings about what was rightfully his and able to take," MacCallum said.
Rove interrupted: "Well, let's just be clear on this, none of these government documents are his to have taken. I agree with the deputy director, who said that a lot of the former president's problems are of his own creation. You can't — under the Presidential Records Act of 1978 you cannot take original documents with you when you leave the White House. When there is the president of the United States or any of his aides, you know — that's forbidden under the law."
He continued saying that there are no criminal penalties for violating the PRA, but Trump has caused more problems by potentially violating other laws outside of the PRA.
"But why the former president packed up 20 nearly 30 some-odd boxes of material when he had no right to do so," Rove continued. "And that's what the government asserts in this filing that he — the former president asked for the return of the documents because, as he said in his filing, they were created in his administration. And the response from the government was, that's evidence that they aren't his if they were developed in the White House during his time of presidency under the Presidential Records Act. They belong to the government and not to him!"
The DOJ filing responded to Trump's request last week for an independent party, or "special master," to screen files seized in the FBI raid for materials protected by personal privilege.
Naming a special master could potentially block investigators' access to the documents, especially if he or she accepts Trump's claims that most were privileged.
The filing argues that the court should not appoint a special master, "because those records do not belong to (Trump)."
The "appointment of a special master is unnecessary and would significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests," the filing adds.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1565061907203096576
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Trump lawyer Alina Habba said on Fox News’ Hannity yesterday that Trump “frequently” has visitors in his office at Mar-a-Lago where classified documents were found by the FBI
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All the DOJ had to do was release that one picture of documents and they got Trump to incriminate himself, it’s almost like they know what they’re doing.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/doj-releases-photo-of-top-secret-documents-seized-from-trump-s-home.jpg?id=31353419&width=2400&height=1600)
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The DOJ’s indictment watch against Donald Trump is now officially in effect!
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More legal experts are predicting Criminal Donald will be prosecuted.
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Trump often had visitors in office with top secret docs: his lawyer
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-often-had-visitors-room-top-secret-docs-lawyer-says-2022-9
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Justice Department says classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were likely 'concealed and removed' to block investigation
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/politics/mar-a-lago-justice-department-response/index.html
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Absolutely disgraceful to watch Republicans defend treason.
Criminal Donald stole top secret classified information and stashed it inside his home and Republicans are defending it and making excuses for it.
The GOP is not a serious political party and they only exist to protect and cover up Trump's treason.
If the GOP actually were patriots and cared for the safety and security of our country they would have kicked Trump to the curb for committing treason. Instead they defend his actions and attack the FBI who did their job.
The GOP is a cult.
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In all, 48 EMPTY folders labeled as containing classified information found at Mar a Lago.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbqBtu_WYAEhaf3?format=jpg&name=900x900)
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Mark Meadows handed over more texts and emails after Mar-a-Lago search: CNN
Friday evening, CNN reported former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) additional emails and text messages within a week of the FBI executing a search warrant at Mag-a-Lago.
Citing "sources familiar with the matter," CNN reported, "Meadows’ submission to the Archives was part of a request for all electronic communications covered under the Presidential Records Act. The Archives had become aware earlier this year it did not have everything from Meadows after seeing what he had turned over to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021. Details of Meadows’ submissions to the Archives and the engagement between the two sides have not been previously reported
The documents Meadows turned over were reportedly not classified and one source told CNN it was not the type of situation that NARA should refer to the Department of Justice.
"Another person familiar with the matter said the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago had nothing to do with Meadows’ decision to turn over the materials to the Archives, as it was a separate discussion," CNN reported. "Still, it’s an awkward position for Trump’s former chief of staff to be in, as Meadows also has been engaged in efforts to get Trump to return documents to the National Archives since last year, sources tell CNN. Meadows is one of Trump’s designees to the Archives, and he got involved in the summer of 2021 after being contacted by another designee, former Trump Deputy White House Counsel Pat Philbin."
Although Meadows was Trump's final White House chief of staff and one of his NARA, the exact status of their current relationship is murky.
"In recent months, Trump has been counseled to cut contact with Meadows, whose actions leading up to and on the day of the US Capitol attack have been deeply scrutinized by the House panel investigating January 6, sources have said. A source close to Trump said that while the former President has not completely cut ties with Meadows, Trump has complained about Meadows in conversations with other allies," CNN reported.
Read the full report:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/politics/mark-meadows-texts-emails-national-archives/index.html
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'What happened to them?' Mueller prosecutor says empty classified folders are a game changer
On Friday's edition of MSNBC's "Deadline: White House," former DOJ prosecutor Andrew Weissman, a veteran of the Robert Mueller investigation, claimed that the 43 empty classified document folders that were allegedly found by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago should raise alarm bells.
Some legal experts, like former CIA and State Department official David Priess, have emphasized this doesn't necessarily mean the contents of these folders are missing, and it may simply be that the FBI separated the folders and contents to itemize them. But Weissman is not so sure.
"Tell me what, as we are here at 5:00 on Friday, what is your sense of what we understand about the nature of this investigation, that even former Attorney General Bill Barr has to sort of concede and acknowledge is a pretty good case?" asked anchor Nicolle Wallace.
"Two thoughts," said Weissman. "So first thought, really revolves around those empty folders. Ever since we learned that there was a search warrant and learned that there were classified documents, what was in the back of everyone's mind was the fear that these didn't all stay at Mar-a-Lago, and was there any dissemination. That is the reason why government documents are supposed to stay with the government, classified documents are supposed to stay in a SCIF and top secret documents, more than that, are highly restricted in terms of who has access. And that is because of the concern that they get into the wrong hands."
"And when you see how many folders were empty, that is the thing that causes you to take a deep breath and really be concerned about what happened to them," continued Weissman. "It is very reason for this investigation and for the Department of Justice to be taking these actions. And the second thing that crossed my mind is we have learned a lot about Mar-a-Lago, that that is not the only place that the former president has a residence. And although he was given a grand jury subpoena that called for him to produce documents wherever located, that was not — we know that was not complied with."
"So the second thing in my head is, what steps are being taken to make sure that the government has scooped up everything, especially given the concern about these getting into the wrong hands?" Weissman added. "You can be sure that our adversaries are looking at this and having a field day, and figuring out how they might be able, if they haven't already, gained access to these documents."
Watch:
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William Barr, on Fox, says there's no legitimate reason for classified docs to be at Mar-a-Lago and doubts Trump declassified
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/politics/barr-trump-documents-fox/index.html
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What’s missing from the stolen documents
MSNBC’s Ali Velshi speaks to former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, and Pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston about what we learned from the FBI inventory of the classified government documents that were seized from Mar-A-Lago and how Donald Trump fits into a classic “Law & Order” archetype.
Watch:
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/how-donald-trump-fits-the-law-order-criminal-profile-147647557682
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With Top Secret documents found at, & classified documents missing from, Mar-a-Lago, DOJ must act
By stealing classified documents from the White House and unlawfully concealing them at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump has potentially compromised our national security in so many ways. Now, US intelligence officials and agencies are scrambling to determine how much damage Trump may have done. Of course, there is one person who knows precisely who had access to the classified documents that were at Mar-a-Lago . . . Donald Trump.
If any other person on the planet had committed the offenses Trump committed, that person would have been arrested, interrogated and compelled to divulge information that could mitigate the damage to our national security. However, our law enforcement and intelligence communities continue to deal with Trump with kid gloves.
Here is how and why the Department of Justice must now act to hold Donald Trump accountable and protect our national security.
Watch:
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FBI found more than 11,000 government records at Trump's Florida home
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The FBI recovered more than 11,000 government documents and photographs during its Aug. 8 search at former President Donald Trump's Florida estate, as well as 48 empty folders labeled as "classified," according to court records that were unsealed on Friday.
The unsealing by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach came one day after she heard oral arguments by Trump's attorneys and the Justice Department's top two counterintelligence prosecutors over whether she should appoint a special master to conduct a privilege review of the seized materials at Trump's request.
Cannon deferred ruling immediately on whether to appoint a special master but said she would agree to unseal two records filed by the Justice Department.
Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who was appointed by Trump, questioned the usefulness of such an appointment.
"I think at this stage, since they've (FBI) already gone through the documents I think it's a waste of time" to have a special master, Barr said in an interview on Fox News.
Barr, who left the post in late December 2020, defied Trump by not backing his false claims that the presidential election that year had been stolen from him.
In the interview, Barr added that he saw no "legitimate reason" for Trump having documents at his Florida estate if they were classified.
He added, "I frankly am skeptical of this claim (by Trump) that 'I declassified everything.' Because frankly I think it's highly improbable and second, if he sort of stood over scores of boxes not really knowing what was in them and said 'I hereby declassify everything in here,' that would be such an abuse, show such recklessness that it's almost worse than taking the documents."
One of the records https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763.39.1_1.pdf, released on Friday, provides a little more detail about the 33 boxes and other items the FBI found inside Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, as part of its ongoing criminal investigation into whether he illegally retained national defense information and tried to obstruct the probe.
It shows that documents with classification markings were at times co-mingled with other items such as books, magazines and newspaper clippings.
Also found were unspecified gifts and clothing items.
Of the more than 11,000 government records and photos, 18 were labeled as "top secret," 54 were labeled "secret" and 31 were labeled "confidential," according to a Reuters tally of the government's inventory.
"Top secret" is the highest classification level, reserved for the country's most closely held secrets.
There were also 90 empty folders, 48 of which were marked "classified," while others indicated that they should be returned to staff secretary/military aide.
It is not clear why the folders were empty, or whether any records could be missing.
The other record https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763.39.0_2.pdf that was unsealed is a three-page filing by the Justice Department updating the court about the status of its investigative team's review of the documents seized.
That filing, dated Aug. 30, said investigators had completed a preliminary review of the materials seized and will investigate further and interview more witnesses.
The Justice Department's criminal investigation could be potentially put on pause if Cannon agrees to appoint a special master to come in and conduct an independent third-party review of the seized records.
However, Cannon signaled at Thursday's hearing she might be willing to permit U.S. intelligence officials to continue reviewing the materials as part of their national security damage assessment, even if a special master is appointed.
The Justice Department has previously said in court filings it has evidence that classified documents were deliberately concealed from the FBI when it tried to retrieve them from Trump's home in June.
The Justice Department also opposes the appointment of a special master, saying the records in question do not belong to Trump and that he cannot claim they are covered by executive privilege, a legal doctrine that can be used to shield some presidential communications.
© Reuters
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Judge unseals inventory of Mar-a-Lago raid
A federal judge unsealed inventory of the Mar-a-Lago raid, revealing agents gathered more than 11,000 documents and dozens of folders marked "classified" were empty..
Watch:
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DOJ: Trump required to comply with subpoena even if he'd declassified documents
https://www.axios.com/2022/09/04/doj-trump-declassified-document
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Feds cite efforts to obstruct probe of docs at Trump estate
https://apnews.com/article/mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-1fef158c3a66bfc0ba6224570753ba47
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost
Some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1567319206156152832/KoHmVreJ?format=jpg&name=medium)
Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
Some of the documents seized on Aug. 8 detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them.
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1567303119301758981
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Criminal Donald stole nuclear secrets and stashed them at his residence. Lock him up and throw away the key.
DOJ was probably sitting on this explosive news of nuclear secrets document and knew that this corrupt MAGA judge would give Trump his special master and help with his shameless delay tactics. Next day - boom - this bombshell. Smart.
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Document seized from Trump home described foreign govt's nuclear capabilities -Washington Post
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A document describing a foreign government's military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found in the FBI's search last month of former President Donald Trump's Florida home, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The Post report, which cited people familiar with the matter, did not identify the foreign government discussed in the document, nor did it indicate whether the foreign government was friendly or hostile to the United States.
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the report. Trump representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The FBI recovered more than 11,000 government documents and photographs during its Aug. 8 search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, according to court records.
According to the Post report, some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations that require special clearances, not just top-secret clearance.
Some of the documents are so restricted that even some of the Biden administration's senior-most national security officials were not authorized to review them, the Post said.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Trump for removing government records from the White House after he departed in January 2021 and storing them at Mar-a-Lago.
https://news.yahoo.com/document-seized-trump-home-described-001233778.html
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Tomi T Ahonen Standing With Ukraine @tomiahonen
Thread on Nuclear Espionage 1/
So WaPo just reported that (at least) one of the Top Secret documents seized at Mar-A-Lago was about a foreign country's nuclear capability
9 countries have that capability: USA, Russia, China, UK, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/tomiahonen/status/1567378983141916672
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Nuclear secrets reportedly found at Mar-a-Lago are ‘gamechanger’, experts say – live
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/sep/07/trump-nuclear-document-special-master-biden-obama-bannon-latest
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'Just unimaginable': NBC News intel analyst stunned by latest Mar-a-Lago revelations
An intelligence expert on Wednesday expressed astonishment over new reporting about classified material stashed at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
According to sources who spoke with The Washington Post, one of the classified documents seized by the FBI at Trump's Florida residence described the nuclear capabilities and military defenses of a foreign power.
“It's hard to know what to make of the significance of this document because the [Washington] Post was not able to determine whether or not it had classification markings,” said Ken Dilanian, the justice and intelligence correspondent for NBC News, during an appearance on MSNBC.
The document could be “a think tank report or some of the most highly classified information in the U.S. government,” he continued. “We just don’t know. But the Post did describe some of the other documents that have been taken from Mar-a-Lago, and just how classified they are, including special access programs.”
He explained that such programs “are briefed to only a small number of people inside the U.S. government, and basically the president and his top cabinet secretaries.”
“They are usually locked within a safe within a special room, so the idea that they were at a golf club is just unimaginable,” Dilanian remarked.
Trump is facing mounting legal pressure, with the Justice Department saying top secret documents were "likely concealed" to obstruct an FBI probe into Trump's potential mishandling of classified materials.
When agents searched the Mar-a-Lago resort on August 8, they found material so sensitive that "even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents," a government court filing said.
The FBI raid came after a review of "highly classified" records that Trump finally surrendered to authorities in January after months of back and forth with the National Archives and Records Administration.
The 15 boxes handed over by Trump were found to contain 184 documents marked as confidential, secret or top secret.
After prompting from the FBI, Trump's lawyer eventually turned over an additional 38 classified documents -- and provided "sworn certification" that they represented the last of the material.
But the FBI went on to uncover "multiple sources of evidence" showing classified documents remained at Mar-a-Lago.
Watch Video In Link:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-classified-documents-2658160202/
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Why Trump’s excuses for taking classified documents won’t hold up in court
Watch:
https://www.msnbc.com/american-voices/watch/why-trump-s-excuses-for-taking-classified-documents-won-t-hold-up-in-court-147729477692
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Mar-a-Lago a magnet for spies, officials warn after nuclear file reportedly found
Former intelligence chiefs say national security officials are ‘shaking their heads at what damage might have been done’
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Mar-a-Lago – the Palm Beach resort and residence where Donald Trump reportedly stored nuclear secrets among a trove of highly classified documents for 18 months since leaving the White House – is a magnet for foreign spies, former intelligence officials have warned.
The Washington Post reported that a document describing an unspecified foreign government’s defences, including its nuclear capabilities, was one of the many highly secret papers Trump took away from the White House when he left office in January 2021.
There were also documents marked SAP, for Special-Access Programmes, which are often about US intelligence operations and whose circulation is severely restricted, even among administration officials with top security clearance.
Potentially most disturbing of all, there were papers stamped HCS, Humint Control Systems, involving human intelligence gathered from agents in enemy countries, whose lives would be in danger if their identities were compromised.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is conducting a damage assessment review which is focused on the sensitivity of the documents, but US officials said it is the job of FBI counter-intelligence to assess who may have gained access to them.
That is a wide field. The home of a former president with a history of being enthralled by foreign autocrats, distrustful of US security services, and boastful about his knowledge of secrets, is an obvious foreign intelligence target.
“I know that national security professionals inside government, my former colleagues, [they] are shaking their heads at what damage might have been done,” John Brennan, former CIA director, told MSNBC.
“I’m sure Mar-a-Lago was being targeted by Russian intelligence and other intelligence services over the course of the last 18 or 20 months, and if they were able to get individuals into that facility, and access those rooms where those documents were and made copies of those documents, that’s what they would do.”
Last month, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported that a Russian-speaking immigrant from Ukraine was able to mingle with the former president’s family and friends at Mar-a-Lago, posing as Anna de Rothschild, presenting herself as being an heiress of the banking dynasty.
Inna Yashchyshyn, the daughter of a truck driver who emigrated to Canada, regaled those around her with tales of vineyards and estates and growing up in Monaco, and even met the former president in person, getting herself photographed with him on a golfing green.
There is no evidence that Yashchyshyn was a spy, but the episode underlined how easy it is to get into Mar-a-Lago. During Trump’s presidency, two Chinese women were caught trespassing there on separate occasions.
One of them, Yujing Zhang, was in possession of four mobile phones, a laptop, an external hard drive, and a thumb drive later found to carry malware. In her hotel room, investigators found nine USB drives, five SIM cards and a “signal detector” device for spotting hidden microphones or cameras. She was found guilty of unlawfully entering a restricted building and making false statements to a federal officer, and deported to China in 2021.
The guests, invited or otherwise, are not the only security concern. In 2021, the Trump Organization sought 87 foreign workers for positions at Mar-a-Lago, with wages starting at $11.96 an hour.
“Any competent foreign intelligence service, whether those belonging to China, those belonging to Iran, to Cuba, certainly including Russia are … and were interested in gaining access to Mar-a-Lago,” Peter Strzok, former deputy assistant director of counter-intelligence at the FBI, told MSNBC.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/07/mar-a-lago-trump-nuclear-documents-spies
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Legal expert: Judge Cannon’s ruling contains a mistake that ‘would be a sanctionable offense’ for lawyers
Another legal expert tore into the ruling by District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, although he conceded that a special master review of the Mar-a-Lago documents might actually strengthen the case against Donald Trump.
Conservative attorney Chris Truax published a new column for The Bulwark that argues in favor of Cannon's order granting Trump a special master to sort through the materials looking for anything that might be covered by executive or attorney-client privilege, saying that it might make a conviction harder to overturn on appeal.
"If Trump is going to be prosecuted, it is imperative for all sorts of reasons that he be given every opportunity to defend himself," Truax wrote. "His hardcore supporters will complain about anything short of canonization, much less a criminal prosecution. But there is a critical segment of people who might not follow the detailed twists and turns of Donald Trump’s brushes with the law but want to know that he is being treated fairly."
However, he faulted Cannon's ruling in two significant ways, saying the Trump-appointed federal judge had misapplied a 1975 appeals court ruling on a case involving a businessman's records being seized by the IRS, and he said that error would likely be corrected if prosecutors appeal.
"The Department of Justice is reportedly considering an appeal and I suspect the court will issue a slightly modified opinion in the next couple of days," Truax wrote. "The first problem — and this is kind of nerdy, though important — is that the court actually misquotes the language from an appellate case to make it look like it directly refers to the search of a former president’s home."
"This mistake was almost certainly inadvertent," he added, "because if it were done intentionally by a lawyer, it would be a sanctionable offense."
Truax also faulted the judge for using inept language in her ruling that has been twisted by Trump's allies to make him look like a victim.
"The second is perfectly ethical, but more serious," Truax wrote. "The court, Judge Cannon writes, is 'mindful of the need to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances presented.'"
"At least the appearance of fairness is a poor turn of phrase for a legal setting and is manifestly not what the court meant," he added. "Nonetheless, conservative media are quoting this line to imply that actually it’s Trump who isn’t being treated fairly."
Read More Hers: https://www.thebulwark.com/let-donald-trump-have-his-special-master/
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Outrage builds over new report Trump stashed top secret nuclear documents at Mar-a-Lago
Former President Donald Trump was slammed Wednesday after a new report claimed he had super top secret documents describing a foreign country’s nuclear capacities stashed at his Florida resort home.
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen, a lifelong Republican, led a chorus of outrage, calling the new report fresh evidence that Trump poses a “clear and present threat to democracy.”
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti called the mere presence of the document at Trump’s home evidence of a grave crime.
“It is among our nation’s most closely held secrets,” Mariotti said on Twitter. “What possible justification is there for taking and holding this document in a country club?”
FBI seized the nuclear documents along with hundreds of classified documents during the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, The Washington Post reported late Tuesday.
The paper cited unidentified “people familiar with the search.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., dodged questions about the search and whether he wanted to be briefed on the potential national intelligence issues, claiming he had not been in touch with fellow lawmakers during the end-of-summer recess.
“We’re following like all of you are,” McConnell told reporters.
Trump previously denied reports that there were nuclear secrets found at Mar-a-Lago, calling them a “hoax.”
But the ex-president uncharacteristically avoided mentioning the new nuclear report in a rant about the search on his social media platform.
Instead he complained that they took some of his medical and tax records, which the FBI says were mixed in with highly classified information in boxes in a lightly secured storage room.
Trump’s own former attorney general trashed that complaint, noting that the fact Trump kept personal documents alongside highly classified documents is evidence of mishandling.
“If you find very sensitive documents in Trump’s desk along with his passports, that ties Trump to those documents,” Barr said Wednesday on Fox News.
A day earlier, Barr slammed the federal judge who appointed a special master to comb through the documents.
The conservative former Trump loyalist also came close to predicting Trump will face indictment, praising the government for having “very strong evidence.”
Even Fox News morning host Steve Doocy noted that there is no good reason for Trump to have taken the documents, much less defied a subpoena to give them back.
“That doesn’t seem like something you should have in your post-presidential drawer,” Doocy said.
© New York Daily News
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As expected, the DOJ has appealed the rogue special master ruling. It'll win. When? Soon enough. This ruling hasn't actually delayed most aspects of the DOJ's Trump probe. So while the judge's unfitness is a major scandal, this ruling not a major factor in the DOJ's Trump probe.
I’ve said all along that the DOJ was taking the time to build such a comprehensive case against Trump so that when he did try playing games, they’d already have it covered and his antics wouldn’t work. This rogue judge ruling is precisely why you build up a case for so long.
As for this judge, if she were looking to help Trump she’d have gone with a more subtle ruling that might have had a chance of holding up on appeal. Instead she gave Trump what he stupidly wanted – an unimementable magic wand ruling that would quickly die on appeal.
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Former intelligence officials warn Mar-a-Lago has become a 'magnet for foreign spies'
Former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida has reportedly become a "magnet for foreign spies," according to former U.S. intelligence officials and national security analysts.
Per The Guardian, it was reported "that a document describing an unspecified foreign government’s defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was one of the many highly secret papers Trump took away from the White House when he left office in January 2021."
The news outlet also noted:
"There were also documents marked SAP, for Special-Access Programmes, which are often about US intelligence operations and whose circulation is severely restricted, even among administration officials with top security clearance. Potentially most disturbing of all, there were papers stamped HCS, Humint Control Systems, involving human intelligence gathered from agents in enemy countries, whose lives would be in danger if their identities were compromised."
Speaking to MSNBC News, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Brennan weighed in with his insight on the discovery,
“I know that national security professionals inside government, my former colleagues, [they] are shaking their heads at what damage might have been done,” John Brennan, former CIA director, told the news outlet.
“I’m sure Mar-a-Lago was being targeted by Russian intelligence and other intelligence services over the course of the last 18 or 20 months, and if they were able to get individuals into that facility, and access those rooms where those documents were and made copies of those documents, that’s what they would do.”
Peter Strzok, who previously served as deputy assistant director of counter-intelligence for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also expressed similar sentiments when during the brief discussion on MSNBC.
Watch:
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'Really smart': Legal experts praise DOJ move in Mar-a-Lago investigation
The U.S. Department of Justice responded on Thursday to a controversial Monday ruling by Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon who ordered a special master to oversee the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.
"DOJ files notice of appeal in case where judge effectively froze the Trump documents investigation and imposed a special master to filter material for executive privilege," New York Times correspondent Charlie Savage reported. "DOJ is asking judge to stay the part of her order that halted the investigation and would require showing classified docs to special master, and says will appeal if she doesn't do that."
The filing noted an urgency to investigate what was in the empty folders with classification headers.
"The same is true of the empty folders with ''classified’ banners' that were among the seized materials here," the DOJ argued.
"The FBI would be chiefly responsible for investigating what materials may have once been stored in these folders and whether they may have been lost or compromised—steps that, again, may require the use of grand jury subpoenas, search warrants, and other criminal investigative tools and could lead to evidence that would also be highly relevant to advancing the criminal investigation.
The filing said Trump had "never disputed" that he "has no property, possessory, or other legal interest in classified records."
Alan Kohler, Jr., the assistant director of the FBI for counterintelligence, also filed a six-page affidavit in support of the DOJ's motion.
Legal experts quickly took to social media to analyze the prosecutors' move.
Former Department of Justice spokesperson Matt Miller said, "DOJ firing its biggest bullets here: Cannon's order has already forced [Office of Director of National Intelligence] to stop its risk assessment, and further delay will further harm national security.
National security lawyer Bradley Moss wrote, "This DOJ motion reiterates over and over what I have been stating on CNN and MSNBC for three day now: there is nothing for a Special Master to do with the documents containing classification markings. They are government property. They don’t belong to Trump."
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said, "this is really smart."
"This is a savvy move by DOJ," wrote former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. "This gives Judge Cannon an opening to back down from the most problematic parts of her ruling, avoid appeal, and keep the investigation moving."
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1567968258820812801
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FBI investigated threats against law enforcement from Trump supporters after Mar-a-Lago search: report
In the days after they conducted a search for classified documents at Donald Trump's Palm Beach resort, federal agents examined social media for possible threats against the agency and issued internal warnings about potential armed protests carried out by Trump supporters, Bloomberg reports.
Intelligence officers at the Federal Protective Service called for increased patrols and security around government properties and instructed law enforcement officers to remain in a “heightened state of vigilance at this time.” The FPS is a government agency tasked with protecting federal buildings.
“An attack on a federal facility can occur in a variety of ways and is only limited to the imagination of the individual(s) who are planning, coordinating and executing the attack,” the FPS said in an Aug. 10 bulletin -- two days after the Mar-a-Lago search.
According to Bloomberg's Jason Leopold, the potential for violence in the wake of the FBI's search shows the ripple effect such actions have across Trumpworld.
"On Aug. 10, Richard Cline, FPS’s principal deputy director, sent an email to Randolph 'Tex' Alles, a top DHS official, along with intelligence details 'reporting a spike in expressed social media threats against the FBI and to a lesser extent, other government and law enforcement agencies following the August 8, 2022 execution of a federal search warrant at the Florida residence of former President Trump,'" Bloomberg's report stated.
"Earlier that day, an FPS intelligence officer flagged a comment left on the far-right website The Gateway Pundit that said, 'Target practice using FBI agents who have not quit. This raid should be every agent’s last warning shot. It is absolutely not worth working in the FBI. Don’t heed the warning is your own death sentence.'"
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-supporters-fbi-threats/
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A week ago, a federal judge issued a bizarre, incoherent, unenforceable, and brazenly corrupt ruling in favor of Donald Trump’s request for a special master. This week the DOJ fired back with a motion that cleverly reframed the probe in such a manner that made it almost impossible for the judge to stick to her guns.
Now the judge is asking both sides to weigh in on a partial stay of her own ruling, which would allow the DOJ to move forward in the way that it needs to, without having to take the time to appeal her ruling to a higher court and get it struck down.
One legal expert appeared on MSNBC and characterized the judge’s move as a “white flag” of surrender, as the judge tries to get out from under her own bizarre ruling. Another legal expert on the same panel pointed out that if Trump wants to contest this partial stay, he’ll have to claim in court that he had a standing order to declassify all documents – something that could come back to bite him later:
Now the judge is asking both sides to weigh in on a partial stay of her own ruling, which would allow the DOJ to move forward in the way that it needs to, without having to take the time to appeal her ruling to a higher court and get it struck down.
One legal expert appeared on MSNBC and characterized the judge’s move as a “white flag” of surrender, as the judge tries to get out from under her own bizarre ruling. Another legal expert on the same panel pointed out that if Trump wants to contest this partial stay, he’ll have to claim in court that he had a standing order to declassify all documents – something that could come back to bite him later:
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1568253165426085888
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Trump lawyer may be stripped of 'attorney-client privilege' over Mar-a-Lago obstruction: legal expert
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Buried in a profile of Donald Trump attorney Christina Bobb, one legal expert suggested she and the former president may find that the legal protections afforded by the attorney-client privilege may be stripped away from them due to accusations she may have assisted in obstructing the DOJ.
Detailing Bobb's quick rise from OAN host to currently being part of a team of lawyers defending the former president's attempt to hoard highly sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Business Insider's Sophia Ankel wrote that Bobb's signing of documents that all materials had been handed back to the government when they had not, has put her in the DOJ's crosshairs.
According to the report, "In a legal filing last month, the DOJ alleged that Bobb and Evan Corcoran, another Trump lawyer, misled prosecutors by saying they had handed over all classified documents from Mar-a-Lago."
Adding that "Experts said the filing could build a legal case that Bobb and Corcoran obstructed the government's investigation, and urged both lawyers to get lawyers of their own," Ankel spoke with attorney and national security expert Bradley Moss who claimed she has major legal problems in her future.
"Bobb certainly, at a minimum, is a material-fact witness in the context of the government's inquiry into possible obstruction and efforts to conceal the records located at Mar-a-Lago," he explained.
"It is not out of the realm of possibility that the government ... will at least seek a court order compelling her to testify before the grand jury, citing the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.," he elaborated.
As for Bobb's continuing appearances on Fox News defending Trump on his Mar-a-Lago document problems, Moss added, "She should stay off of TV at this point, as [she] is only making the situation worse."
Read More Here: https://www.businessinsider.com/christina-bobb-profile-trump-lawyer-former-oan-presenter-2022-9
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The DOJ left a 'tantalizing' warning in their Trump-appointed judge appeal: former FBI official
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According to the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, when the Department of Justice appealed Judge Ailleen Cannon's decision on appointing a special master, they left a clue that there are more issues to be resolved.
Speaking with host Alex Witt, former agent Frank Figliuzzi called the legal notation "tantalizing."
Prompting Figliuzzi about the empty files that have DOJ officials concerned, Witt asked, "The DOJ filing says that the FBI is responsible for finding out if they are lost or compromised. Frank, how significant is that?"
'Yeah I mean, just as important as what they found is what they didn't find and the question is of where is it," he replied. "Because as you said, they've got 40-some odd empty folders marked classified and you've got to figure out whether that simply means that the documents were taken out of those folders and intermingled amongst personal belongings and other records, or whether they were truly, truly missing."
"And, again, that is linked to the risk review and the criminal case and even -- very kind of tantalizing -- the DOJ says in their, filing 'look, judge, your ruling is actually stopping us, impeding us is the word they used, from finding documents, other classified documents. which could be out there, even in other places.'"
"So this raises the possibility that they suspect those empty folders, those contents, might have ended up somewhere else," he elaborated. "And the question of somewhere else is why they need to get the investigation back up and running."
Watch:
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Warner wants damage assessment from intel community over Trump documents
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says the intelligence community needs to provide a damage assessment of the classified material found at former President Donald Trump's home in Florida.
Watch:
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Criminal Donald is now a private citizen who stole top secret classified information and stashed them at his residence in Florida. The DOJ has every right to look at the documents he stole.
Trump attorneys object to DOJ's request to continue reviewing classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-attorneys-object-to-do-js-request-to-continue-reviewing-classified-documents-seized-from-mar-a-lago-164207927.html
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Feds claim there are no documents on record that apply to a so-called Trump 'declassification order'
Former President Donald Trump and his allies have claimed multiple times that there was a kind of "declassification order" on many of the documents that he took from the White House back to his country club in Florida.
In an interview with the Fox network, Trump said that while he was in office he "often took documents, including classified documents, to the residence" and "had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office and taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them."
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said that while he was there there was nothing of the sort going on, and that the idea of a standing declassification order is "almost certainly a lie."
ACLU lawyer Matthew Segal noted last week that colleagues sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the National Geospatial-intelligence agency requesting any documents pertaining to an "alleged declassification standing order, any written transmittal of the alleged declassification stand order from the executive office of the president of the United States to NGA, including by letter, memoranda, or email, all records created by NGA that were declassified pursuant to the alleged declassification standing order" up until Jan. 20, 2021.
The same request was also sent to the Department of Homeland Security. Both came back with the same answer.
On Sept. 8, Segal cited the letter from the NGA saying "Our extensive search of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency records failed to identify any documents in our files that are responsive to your request."
Monday, the Department of Homeland Security returned the information explaining, "We conducted a comprehensive search of files within The Office of the Executive Secretary (ESEC) and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) for records that would be responsive to your request. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate or identify and responsive records."
https://www.rawstory.com/did-trump-declassify-docs/
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Judge unseals nine additional paragraphs from Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit
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Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday unsealed more of the pages from the affidavit for the FBI search warrant issued for the classified documents Donald Trump took with him to his country club in Palm Beach, Florida.
There were two grand jury subpoenas issued prior to the search at Mar-a-Lago, the pages detail. They were part of the ongoing litigation around the special master. Federal prosecutors told Judge Cannon Tuesday that they've already talked about the special master in another case with the judge overseeing the grand jury and that that judge approved the disclosure of the information redacted previously
One piece that is new is the search warrant affidavit is that five of the documents were marked "confidential," 16 marked "secret," and 17 marked "top secret."
Other markings on the documents at Mar-a-Lago continued information derived from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is the kind of surveillance that happens electronically involving foreign adversaries to the U.S. as well as human intelligence.
There was a certified letter to the FBI and DOJ at Mar-a-Lago on June 3 saying that "based upon the information that has been provided to me, I am authorized to certify on behalf of the office of Donald Trump the following," it then makes the case that they'd searched all of the boxes in Florida from the White House and that they'd handed over all of the documents. The name isn't included in the new release, but reports indicated it was lawyer Christina Bobb.
Her letter also details that they did a search of the storage room and that there were no additional documents anywhere else in Mar-a-Lago, but the FBI alleges that it found many documents in Trump's personal office, his desk drawers and in the office closet.
According to "Individual 2," who is a National Archives representative for Trump said, “When producing the documents, neither FPOTUS COUNSEL 1 nor INDIVIDUAL 2 asserted that FPOTUS had declassified the documents. 2 The documents being in a Redweld envelope wrapped in tape appears to be consistent with an effort to handle the documents as if they were still classified.”
The newly unredacted portion of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit, the former president's "Counsel 1" pointed to Trump in what could be considered an obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. § 1519," tweeted lawyer George Conway.
You can read the full filing here: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-documents-additional-paragraphs/
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Unsealed Mar-a-Lago affidavit shows Donald Trump 'did play a role' in hiding documents: legal analyst
A federal magistrate judge responding to a U.S. Dept. of Justice request Tuesday afternoon further unsealed the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago on August 8.
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, on MSNBC, says the additional information appears to confirm that Donald Trump likely played a role in instructing his attorney, who ultimately certified there were no classified documents remaining at Mar-a-Lago, before federal agents entered the Trump resort and retrieved more than 100 classified and top secret documents.
“This does in large part make the information that’s been revealed consistent between the D.C. and the Florida investigations,” Vance, a professor of law, told Nicolle Wallace.
Vance suggested that the newly revealed information appears to confirm that Trump was at least involved in the events that led his attorney to tell DOJ there were no more classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
“If there’s one takeaway here and Nicole, and it’s not certain, but there’s more of an implication in this newly released information that the former president did play a role in the provision of information about documents to whoever the lawyer who certified this information to the Justice Department,” Vance surmised.
“There’s this implication that documents were stored in storage areas and that there was nothing in personal offices and that seems like the sort of information that would have been very likely to come from the former president,” she added.
“So this gives DOJ more of a basis to move forward. And of course, because this involves the grand jury, subpoenas are not documents that were ultimately seized in the search. DOJ is free to move forward with inquiries to witnesses without violating Judge Cannons order,” to not use the seized classified documents until after a special master has reviewed them.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1569794028916408323
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Mar-a-Lago documents: Trump delaying tactics causing ‘irreparable harm’ – DoJ
Justice department court filing argues that judge’s special master ruling impedes its review of highly classified documents
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Pages from a Department of Justice court filing last month in response to a request from Donald Trump’s legal team for a special master to review seized documents.
Donald Trump’s lawyers are causing “irreparable harm” to the government and public by delaying the investigation into his hoarding of highly classified documents at his Florida mansion, the US Department of Justice said.
The claim came in a strongly worded court filing urging a district judge, Aileen Cannon, to reconsider her ruling last week granting Trump’s request for an independent “special master” in the case.
The Department of Justice argued that the order stops it continuing its review of thousands of documents, some reportedly containing details of a foreign power’s nuclear secrets, seized during an FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach last month.
Federal agents discovered the papers in a basement storage area and a desk drawer, despite assurances from Trump’s lawyers that all documents he took with him after leaving the White House in January 2021 had been returned to the National Archives.
“Markings [on the documents] signify that their unauthorized disclosure ‘reasonably could be expected to result in damage to the national security,’ including ‘exceptionally grave damage’,” Tuesday’s justice department filing said, adding that a delay would cause “irreparable harm”.
“Plaintiff has characterised the government’s criminal investigation as a ‘document storage dispute’ or an ‘overdue library book scenario.’ In doing so, plaintiff has not addressed the potential harms that could result from mishandling classified information or the strict requirements imposed by law for handling such materials.”
Cannon, a Trump appointee to the federal bench, has been widely criticized for the “special master” ruling, which some have argued placed Trump “above the law”. She has given no indication if or when she will reconsider the order.
Trump’s lawyers have urged Cannon to leave the order in place, claiming without evidence that the former president declassified the documents before he left office.
The justice department rejects that argument, insisting that even if Trump had taken such an action, which it notes has not been asserted in any of Trump’s legal filings or sworn declarations, the papers still belonged to the government and are not his personal property.
Also on Tuesday, another judge unsealed additional portions of an FBI affidavit laying out the basis for the search of Mar-a-Lago, showing that agents earlier obtained a hard drive after issuing a subpoena for surveillance footage recorded inside Mar-a-Lago.
A redacted version was released last month, but the justice department requested permission to show more of it after Trump’s lawyers revealed the existence of a June grand jury subpoena that sought video footage from cameras near the storage room.
According to the newly visible portions of the agent’s affidavit, the FBI subpoenaed the footage on 24 June, weeks after observing about 50 boxes of records in the storage room at Mar-a-Lago.
The Trump Organization provided a hard drive on 6 July in response to the subpoena, the affidavit says.
“Because those aspects of the grand jury’s investigation have now been publicly revealed, there is no longer any reason to keep them sealed (i.e. redacted) in the filings in this matter,” the justice department filing said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/14/trump-documents-justice-department-irreparable-harm
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'Surprising his lawyers went along with this': CNN legal expert thinks special master ploy may blow up in Trump's face
CNN legal analyst Paul Callan had nothing but praise for retired Senior Judge Raymond Dearie, who was appointed this week by Judge Aileen Cannon to serve as special master to oversee documents seized by the FBI from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
However, Callan also found himself surprised that Trump lawyers would agree with Dearie, who has a reputation for fairness.
Specifically, Callan called Dearie "an excellent choice" and said that it was "very surprising that Trump lawyers went along with this."
"He is a FISA judge, has been involved in some rulings that were adverse to Trump in prior investigations," said Callan. "He is a fair guy, he is a bright guy, he can take fighting parties and get them together and settle cases. Tremendous respect."
Callan also predicted that Dearie would not let Trump and his lawyers play games with the aim of stalling or delaying the DOJ's investigation into the documents Trump had stashed at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
"He will get it done fast, that's my bet," he emphasized.
Watch:
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Trump may have put his lawyers in a bind if they have to face the 11th Court of Appeals: legal analyst
During an appearance on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner claimed the attorneys for Donald Trump may have some explaining to do if they have to face the eleven judges who make up the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and have to admit they weren't entirely truthful with Judge Aileen Cannon.
Speaking with host Yasmin Vossoughian, Kirschner said the former president may have put his attorneys in a bad spot by insisting he declassified all of the sensitive government documents sought by the Department of Justice that led to an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
Of concern, is how Trump's attorneys will respond on Tuesday to another appeal from the DOJ over disputed documents and where it goes from there.
"Donald Trump's defense team will probably offer nothing new," Kirschner offered. "They have been playing coy the whole time with respect to whether Trump ever declassified anything."
"If he had, I suspect his defense team would have asserted that in court. But they've put themselves in a bit of a trick bag because if they now go up to the 11th Circuit and start to make new factual representations like 'Oh, we may have withheld from Judge Cannon the fact that he declassified documents but we are now telling you, the 11th Circuit judges,' I do not think that will play well."
"Why?" the MSNBC host pressed.
"Because they will have withheld relevant information to Judge Cannon's determination," he replied. "I think this whole thing has been a parlor game. Did he or did he not declassify documents? And I think Donald Trump may have been using it to whip up his base. But I don't think we're going to see a legal argument that he declassified anything."
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Don't forget that Criminal Donald stole the most sensitive nuclear secrets which puts our national security in danger and the MAGA Republican party is just fine with that.
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Here is the DOJ's detailed letter to Special Master Dearie regarding his proposed Draft Case Management Order and other related issues in the MAL case:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1571985619240222725/Sy1e9CGJ?format=png&name=360x360)
courtlistener.com
Notice (Other) – #96 in Trump v. United States (S.D. Fla., 9:22-cv-81294) – CourtListener.com
NOTICE by United States Of America re 94 Order Proposed Agenda (Edelstein, Julie) (Entered: 09/19/2022)
The DOJ smartly includes the search warrant and the redacted affidavit in support of the search warrant with this letter. It will serve to remind Dearie of the egregious facts against Trump and how many times Trump NEVER invoked ANY KIND OF PRIVILEGE.
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Judge Dearie just DESTROYED Trump’s previous defense that the documents were “declassified” saying the matter is over and he will consider them CLASSIFIED.
Judge Dearie makes clear he is taking government’s position that the classified Mar-a-Lago documents are in fact classified.
“What business is it of the court? … As far as I’m concerned that’s the end of it.”
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Judge Dearie just DESTROYED Trump’s previous defense that the documents were “declassified” saying the matter is over and he will consider them CLASSIFIED.
Judge Dearie makes clear he is taking government’s position that the classified Mar-a-Lago documents are in fact classified.
“What business is it of the court? … As far as I’m concerned that’s the end of it.”
What's next for Team Trump? Demanding that a 'Very Special Master' must be appointed to supervise the decisions of the 'Special Master'?
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B]Trump paid key witness $7,500 only 11 days after Mar-a-Lago search: report[/b]
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/kash-patel.jpg?id=31044841&width=2400&height=1350)
Donald Trump paid a key witness in the Mar-a-Lago and Jan. 6 cases only eleven days after the FBI conducted a search at Mar-a-Lago.
"Tonight, Trump handed a loss by the special master that he put forward for the job and it's a pretty significant loss because [Special Master Raymond Dearie] is calling Trump's bluff by questioning the very heart of his argument in the Mar-a-Lago documents case," CNN's Erin Burnett reported.
"Trump has, for weeks — again and again, any time he spoke publicly — said that he declassified the more than 100 documents seized in the FBI search," Burnett noted. "But there's never been any evidence or anyone who has come to verify that and the special master is now saying that unless he receives any evidence to back up that claim that Trump is publicly making, he will consider all of the information marked classified to be classified."
For analysis, Burnett interviewed former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
"If I know Donald Trump, he's going to tell them to lean into the fact that they were declassified," Grisham said. "I know he has said that he had told Kash Patel that they were declassified, but I think it's important for just your viewers, the country, to understand that that's not how it works. You don't just say the words, these are now declassified and it's done. There is a process. And more importantly, people, agencies would need to be told, right? The CIA, the DOJ, the FBI, the people who have sources and methods out there. they would need to know that, hey, these documents are suddenly declassified so that they can move those sources around."
Also on Tuesday, Trump's Save America PAC revealed a payment to Patel's consulting firm, Trishul LLC.
"Kash Patel makes his first appearance on Trump’s payroll — $7,500 on Aug. 19," Daily Beast correspondent Roger Sollenberger reported.
Grisham suggested Patel and others might publicly testify that Trump declassified the documents.
"We point back to the magic wand you and I talked about before," Grisham said. "He just looked at Kash and said, 'Hey, these are all declassified,' that's it? It doesn't work that way. Now if the president names names of people who actually witnessed it, then those people will have to come forward and say under oath the truth that that's the truth."
"Do I think there are people who would maybe do that for him, even if it wasn't true? Sadly, I do," Grisham added.
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What's next for Team Trump? Demanding that a 'Very Special Master' must be appointed to supervise the decisions of the 'Special Master'?
Pretty much. Donnie always needs his "yes men" to rule in his favor.
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Trump faces threat that 11th circuit might 'shut down' motions that go nowhere: legal expert
As Donald Trump's attorneys face a grilling from the special master appointed by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday, a former assistant U.S. Attorney turned white collar crime lawyer said the former president may find his legal pleadings over documents the FBI had to confiscate cut off much sooner then he might hope.
On Tuesday, the attorneys for Trump are expected to explain to special master Raymond Dearie, which documents the president claimed he declassified -- something his lawyers are already balking at doing.
As attorney Asha Rangappa explained to CNN's Poppy Harlow this morning, Trump's lawyers "... know what has happened to the attorneys who have come before them in other contexts and that they are unwilling to make assertions in court for which they can be held professionally and even potentially criminally liable."
According to a report from Politico, David Weinstein, who served in the Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney's office, the former president's appeals up the chain to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals may not only fall on deaf ears, but the court may serve notice to not waste its time.
As Weinstein explained, Cannon's ruling -- which has stalled the DOJ's investigation of obstruction and possible violations of the Espionage Act is an "early victory" for Trump, however, "When push comes to shove, I find it hard to believe that [Trump] will maintain his short term victory with a long term win."
He went on to add, "The bigger picture here is what precedent will the Eleventh Circuit set with their decision?” before continuing, "Will we see many more of these motions in the future, or will they shut down that avenue once and for all?”
Read More Here: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/19/trump-mar-a-lago-probe-00057621
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Special master slammed Trump's biggest defense for his Mar-a-Lago stash: columnist
On Tuesday, writing for Vanity Fair, columnist Bess Levin outlined how the first hearing held by special master Raymond Dearie in the review of highly classified documents the FBI seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club was a disaster for the former president.
Specifically, Levin wrote, Dearie — a widely-respected senior federal judge from Brooklyn — effectively eliminated one of the most prominent arguments Trump has been making in public: that he used his presidential authorities to secretly declassify the documents himself.
"The problem with that defense is that (1) more than a dozen ex–White House staffers told CNN that it’s not true and (2) when it comes to the laws Trump may have broken, it doesn’t necessarily matter if the documents were declassified or not," wrote Levin. "But just for yuks, let’s say it’s true that Trump declassified much of what the FBI agents uncovered at Mar-a-Lago and that having done so could serve as his get-out-of-jail-free card. If that were the case, the ex-president and his legal team would have no problem telling the special master assigned to the case exactly which documents it applied to, right? Apparently, not so much. Possibly because — and we know this might come as a shock given that it’s about famously honest person Donald Trump — it’s a total lie."
Not only did Trump's attorneys refuse to bring up that argument in court, but — according to CNN's Ana Cabrera — Dearie himself preemptively brought it up, to demand the former president's legal team give him a straight answer on whether or not they consider the documents classified.
“If the government gives me prima facia evidence that they are classified documents, and you don’t advance any claim of declassification, I’m left with a prima facia case of classified documents, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it,” Dearie told Trump's attorneys.
Dearie was named special master after a Trump-appointed judge, Aileen Cannon, put the entire investigation on hold pending such a review. According to Axios, Trump's legal team specifically fought for Dearie to be appointed because he worked on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court — and they assumed that because the FISA court oversaw the warrant against former Trump aide Carter Page, which was blasted as supposedly corrupt by Fox News for years, Dearie would be inclined to see things Trump's way.
Read More Here: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/09/donald-trump-special-master-classified-documents
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Trump's first day with the special master isn't going very well
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After a conference call fiasco, Judge Raymond Dearie -- Donald Trump's hand-picked special master -- on Tuesday clashed with the president's lawyers over their refusal to answer questions from the court.
Dearie said that it isn't his role to determine whether or not the documents are classified, it belongs to the executive branch. He explained that when he looks at the case he sees "top secret" marked everywhere.
Dearie asked how he could dispute what the executive branch has indicated on the documents themselves and said that he isn't in a position to argue against it. So, he asked Trump's team what their proof was of declassification.
Trump's lawyers revealed Monday night that they didn't want to answer the judge's questions about classified information because they anticipate that the former president will be criminally indicted by the Justice Department. They have not indicated why they think an indictment is certain.
The Trump lawyers also claimed that they needed access to the top secret documents so that they could prepare a proper defense. Dearie didn't agree and ultimately moved on to question public claims that Trump declassified all of the documents in question. Trump's lawyers have been unwilling to say that publically, however, so Dearie pressed the issue.
"How am I going to verify the classification?" Dearie asked Trump's lawyers.
"We're not in a position nor should we be in a position at this juncture to fully disclose a substantive defense," said Trump lawyer Jim Trusty. "We should not be in a position to have to disclose declarations, witness statements."
"My view is you can't have your cake and eat it too," said Dearie.
"This is a civil action seeking extraordinary relief," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said. "As Judge Dearie noted, Trump has the burden of proof. Asking the court to find that classified documents have been declassified without presenting any evidence of declassification is a non-starter."
Trusty explained he wanted the special master to push the Department of Justice to give them access to the documents for their trial preparation.
Dearie was concerned that were he to hand over classified documents they could make their way into the wrong hands.
“If you need to know, you will know," Dearie said on two occasions, according to law professor Jennifer Taub, who was in the court.
"Attention here seems to be Donald’s lawyers saying they can’t figure out whether something is classified or whether a presidential records act designation would override the classification markings unless they see it first," Taub said.
What was made clear in court is that Trump's own lawyers have no idea what the former president actually had. It's unknown if Trump simply hasn't told them or Trump doesn't himself know.
“What business is it of the court? … As far as I’m concerned that’s the end of it," Dearie explained, assuming the Trump side doesn't have any evidence of declassification.
Dearie seemed insulted by the Trump lawyers' claim at one point that he was going beyond the scope of Judge Aileen Cannon's orders.
The trial lasted about 35 minutes in total.
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/1572295535167705090
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Trump's legal bills rocket up after Mar-a-Lago search: report
Former President Donald Trump has dedicated a majority of his political spending to legal bills, according to a new analysis of campaign finance reports.
"Spending by Donald Trump’s Save America PAC surged in August to more than $6.3 million – its highest monthly total of the year – as the former President waged court battles over the FBI’s search of his waterfront Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida," CNN reported. "More than $3.8 million of that money – or more than $6 out of $10 spent by Trump’s leadership PAC last month – went to legal fees, according to filings Tuesday night with the Federal Election Commission."
Of that, $3 million went to an up-front payment to attorney Chris Kise.
"The PAC’s post-election fundraising has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. CNN reported earlier this month that a federal grand jury had issued subpoenas that seek information related to the formation, fundraising and expenditures of Save America," CNN reported.
The filing shows Save America spent $150,000 in Wyoming as Trump sought to oust GOP Rep. Liz Cheney.
"Trump’s PAC entered September with more than $92 million in cash reserves, according to the new filings – one of the healthier bank accounts in GOP politics. By comparison, the National Republican Senatorial Committee – the GOP fundraising arm charged with flipping the Senate – started September and the sprint to Election Day with just $16 million remaining in the bank," CNN reported. "Trump has faced public pressure to provide more financial help to Republican Senate candidates, some of whom are struggling to compete financially with their Democratic rivals ahead of November’s general election."
On on Tuesday, GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's PAC canceled $9.6 million in ads it had reserved in Arizona to help Blake Masters, is facing Sen. Mark Kelly, a former astronaut.
Read the full report:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/politics/trump-save-america-pac-legal-payments-surge/index.html
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Trump's special master legal team is 'on its heels' and only has two options left: analyst
On the morning after the latest major test of Donald Trump's attempt to slow down the DOJ's investigation of the classified documents he took with him to his Mar-a-Lago resort, Politico's political analyst Josh Gerstein claimed the former president's attorneys seemed to be grasping for a defense under withering grilling under special master Raymond Dearie.
Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" early Wednesday morning, Gerstein was joined by former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, and neither saw much that happened that would make Trump happy.
Speaking with co-host Mika Brzezinski, Gerstein -- who was in the courtroom -- said it appeared the former president's legal representatives appeared to be "back on their heels" as they struggled to address Dearie's questions.
"Josh, break down what happened in court yesterday," the MSNBC host prompted. "What exactly is their defense to what the judge now is requesting, requiring and asking for? Which is basics?"
"Well, Mika you know, it seemed the judge called this hearing with the intention of kind of putting the Trump legal team on their heels a little bit, and making it clear he was going to drive the timing of this process and they were going to have to come forward, as you discussed with Chuck, with evidence if they're going to keep pushing this claim about declassification," he reported.
"It seemed to me sitting there in the courtroom with Judge Dearie, he was very soft-spoken, but he would offer these kind of almost caustic rebuttals sometimes to what the Trump lawyers said," he added. "It seemed like defense lawyers in a case that hasn't been filed. right? No criminal charges. At this point, they have two options open to defend Trump. One is sort of an ignorance defense, maybe he didn't know exactly what documents were down there at Mar-a-Lago and therefore, he couldn't be responsible for that. And the other is this declassification claim."
"Which defense they want to use would depend on what charges the government brings, " he continued. "If it's a charge about classified information, maybe they would try a declassification defense. But if it's just going to be a claim that caused lies to be told to the U.S. government or obstruction of justice, they might want to go in a different direction saying he didn't really know what he had; there's a lot of news clippings and memorabilia, and maybe something classified in those boxes but he's a busy guy."
"They just don't want to pick now which defense they want to use, and they made that abundantly clear in the courtroom yesterday," he summed up.
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Criminal Donald now claims he had the power to declassify documents just “by thinking about it.” No really, he said this. Mind control as a criminal defense. What’s left of his psyche is shattering under the pressure. He knows it’s all over for him.
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'Trump's worst day ever’: legal experts weigh in after ex-president was ‘obliterated' in court
Donald Trump suffered a very bad day legally after being sued in New York and losing his Mar-a-Lago case before a federal appeals court in Georgia.
"An appeals court sided with the Justice Department in a legal fight over classified documents seized in a court-authorized search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, ruling Wednesday that the FBI may use the documents in its ongoing criminal investigation," The Washington Post reported. "The ruling by a three-judge panel of the appeals court marks a victory, at least temporarily, for the Justice Department in its legal battle with Trump over access to the evidence seized in a high-stakes national security investigation to determine if the former president or his advisers mishandled national security secrets or hid or destroyed government records."
Legal experts saw it as a major loss for Trump, who is unable to appeal to the full 11th Circuit Court under the court's Rule 35-4.
"The Eleventh Circuit’s rules don’t allow for en banc review of panel decisions on emergency applications," wrote University of Texas Law Prof. Steve Vladeck. "It’s [Supreme Court] or bust at this point."
"Trump has the right to now ask [Supreme Court] to vacate the Eleventh Circuit’s partial stay and put Judge Cannon’s ruling back into effect," Vladeck explained. "But suffice it to say, I think the odds of there being five votes to override this ruling — even on *this* Court — are exceedingly close to zero."
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal suggested Trump's push for a special master backfired.
"The Court of Appeals ruling is not only a straight repudiation of every legal claim Trump has made since Mar a Lago searched, it's a boomerang," Katyal wrote. "Trump's legal args backfired-Ct powerfully explains why criminal and national security implications are so massive. Court just justified a prosecution."
"It’s really hard to lose an appeal more decisively than Trump just did," Katyal wrote. "This criminal investigation now goes forward with the imprimatur and blessing of the US Court of Appeals, and their explanation of how important this investigation is."
Former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen declared it, "Donald Trump's worst day ever."
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/neal_katyal/status/1572742068786835460
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DOJ wins at appeals court over Trump judge's controversial ruling
On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit stayed a controversial ruling by a Florida district court judge that had effectively blocked the Justice Department and national security agencies from reviewing highly classified documents seized by the FBI at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
That order, by Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, had found that the former president had a compelling interest to those documents not being accessed by the executive branch until a special master had reviewed them for privilege, including executive privilege on behalf of Trump — even though no court has ever ruled former presidents have such privilege or that this privilege outweighs the U.S. government's interest in preventing breaches of classified information.
In the 11th Circuit order obtained by POLITICO, a panel of three judges — including two who were also appointed by Trump — put that order on hold, suggesting that the Justice Department is likely to prevail against Trump on the merits.
According to the ruling, Trump "has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents. Nor has he established that the current administration has waived that requirement for these documents."
Other parts of Cannon's ruling, including that appointing the special master, were left in place, as the Justice Department did not object to those measures.
This comes one day after the special master Cannon appointed, Senior Judge Raymond Dearie, harshly grilled Trump's attorneys in his first hearing on the classified documents, demanding that they take a position on the former president's repeated public claims that he had retroactively declassified that information — noting that the DOJ has already provided "prima facie" evidence the documents should in fact be presumed classified.
https://www.rawstory.com/11th-circuit-trump-doj/
"Judge Cannon" completely bungled her job — and got rightly smacked down: Former prosecutor
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On MSNBC Wednesday, former federal prosecutor Harry Litman broke down the new Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruling placing a stay on right-wing Judge Aileen Cannon's order that effectively prohibited the Justice Department from investigating the classified documents former President Donald Trump had stashed at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
The decision, Litman argued, was a victory for justice, and a rebuke of Cannon's poor legal analysis.
"This ruling just came out, the three-judge panel — we should, say two of them, those judges appointed by Donald Trump," said anchor Chris Hayes. "All three finding that for the government, give us a rundown of what they said?"
"You know, couldn't be more definitive," said Litman. "There is a matter-of-fact tone to it. You read it, and really what comes through is that this is so obvious. It's like waking from a nightmare. We have people who looked at these other opinions by Judge Cannon, trying to explain that these were not in some subtle way arguably right. They were completely off the reservation. And you read these 27 pages — it is a per curiam by the way, the three judges decide to show their unity being together. They almost surely have been writing it over the course of the week. So clear was it what she did was wrong."
"They just settle down and rebuke everything she said," continued Litman. "'We cannot discern' — that's not what you want to hear in the court of appeal — 'we cannot discern a reason why there is a possessory interest.' Any injury for having to be subject of a criminal investigation, like anyone else. She had given him special treatment. Forget about it. One after the other, very methodical."
"I am dramatic. But when you of course take a step back and see how comprehensive it is, it just completely rebukes everything she did," added Litman. "You know? It's some restoration of faith after a truly heart-stoppingly bad set of opinions from her. What they get, by the way, is exactly what she refused to give them in her second opinion. They now have the hundred classified documents. They have taken other things off the table. It argues poorly for her continued mischief in the case."
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Watch: Trump tells Sean Hannity he could declassify documents with his mind
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Donald Trump on Wednesday argued that a president of the United States can declassify documents without speaking or writing a single word.
Trump, fresh off a major defeat in the Mar-a-Lago documents case before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, was interviewed on Fox News by Sean Hannity.
"You have said on Truth Social, a number of times, you did declassify," Hannity said.
"I did declassify," Trump claimed, even though his attorneys have not made that argument in courtrooms in Florida, New York, or Georgia.
"What was your process to declassify?" Hannity asked.
"There doesn't have to be a process, as I understand it," Trump replied. "You know, there's different people, say different things."
"If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, 'it's declassified' — even by thinking about it," Trump claimed.
Whether or not the documents were declassified is irrelevant to the three crimes the FBI said it was investigating in its search warrant application. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday, "declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal."
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Trump's telepathic declassification defense met with scorn and derision by legal scholars
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Legal experts on Wednesday largely disagreed with Donald Trump's Fox News argument that he had the ability to declassify documents with his mind.
"There doesn't have to be a process, as I understand it. You know, there's different people, say different things," Trump told Sean Hannity. "If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, 'it's declassified' — even by thinking about it."
Attorney and former FBI Agent Asha Rangappa joked, "he’s actually invoking the Secret Telepathic Unilateral Preemptive Irreversible Declassification (S.T.U.P.I.D.) defense."
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wrote, "that's beyond wrong, it's insane."
On MSNBC, anchor Lawrence O'Donnell played a clip of the interview and asked national security lawyer Bradley Moss for analysis.
"Yeah, I saw that clip right before I came on and I tried not to burst out laughing," Moss replied.
Moss noticed that judges ruled three times during the Trump administration that the declassification process must occur.
"If he is sitting there and thinking in his mind 'hey, I decided I'm going to declassify the secrets about Iran tonight,' the NSA needs to know if there was their signals intelligence or CIA needs to know," Moss explained. "You can just willy-nilly do it and that's his big problem."
"That's why there is no declaration in the civil case proving he declassified anything," Moss said. "Because he's got nothing, zero, zippo, zilch, nada."
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An appeals court rules the DOJ can regain access to documents seized from Mar-a-Lago
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/21/1124431613/appeals-court-justice-mar-a-lago
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Trump-appointed judge backtracks on her previous ruling after 11th Circuit delivers stinging rebuke
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Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon backtracked on previous aspects of her ruling in favor of former President Donald Trump on Thursday, just hours after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a stinging rebuke that overturned her decision to block the government from using top secret documents as part of its investigation.
In a new filing flagged by Politico's Kyle Cheney, Cannon amended her previous order to state that the seized material subject to a special master review no longer includes the "approximately one-hundred documents bearing classification markings."
The 11th Circuit, a three-judge panel that consists of two Trump appointees, criticized arguments made by the former president's lawyers, who wanted the DOJ to be forced to stop its probe into Trump's decision to allegedly keep top secret government documents stashed at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
In their ruling, the judges noted that Trump "has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents. Nor has he established that the current administration has waived that requirement for these documents."
Cannon's original ruling was widely criticized by many legal experts, who said that the United States Department of Justice was likely to win an appeal at the 11th Circuit.
https://www.rawstory.com/aileen-cannon-2658324050/
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Trump's path to stall documents probe narrows after legal setbacks
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(Reuters) -Donald Trump's bid to impede a criminal investigation into his possession of documents taken from the White House has begun to unravel, legal experts said, after courtroom setbacks including doubts expressed by judges about the former U.S. president's claim that he declassified records seized at his Florida home.
Trump has experienced disappointments on multiple fronts this week as his lawyers try to slow down the Justice Department investigation that kicked into high gear with an Aug. 8 court-approved search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in which FBI agents found 11,000 documents including about 100 marked as classified.
A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that federal investigators could immediately resume examining the classified records, reversing Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's decision to wall off these documents while an independent arbiter assesses whether any should be withheld as privileged.
"Cannon's ruling is so far out of the norm, and the 11th Circuit did such a good job of thoroughly dismantling her opinion," said Jonathan Shaub, a former attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel who now teaches law at the University of Kentucky.
Trump may appeal the 11th Circuit's ruling to the Supreme Court, but experts doubted the justices would agree to hear it. The 11th Circuit's panel included two judges appointed by Trump.
At issue in the investigation - one of several legal woes entangling Trump as he considers another run for the presidency in 2024 - is whether he broke federal laws preventing the destruction or concealment of government records and the unauthorized possession of national defense information. The Justice Department is also looking into whether Trump unlawfully tried to obstruct the investigation.
Trump has not been charged with any crime and the mere existence of an investigation does not mean he will be.
As part of Trump's counterattack against the investigation, he has made public claims that he personally declassified the seized records.
"If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified, even by thinking it," Trump told Fox News on Wednesday. "You're sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you're sending it, and there doesn't have to be a process."
Trump's lawyers, however, have stopped short of stating in court that he declassified the documents, though they have not conceded that they are classified.
The 11th Circuit called Trump's declassification argument a "red herring." The three statutes underpinning the FBI's search warrant at Mar-a-Lago make it a crime to mishandle government records, regardless of their classification status. The 11th Circuit also said it could not discern why Trump would have "an individual interest in or need" for any of the documents marked as classified.
Trump's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
'REAL EVIDENCE'
To make matters worse for Trump, Judge Raymond Dearie - the arbiter, or special master, named by Cannon to vet the seized documents - asked Trump's lawyers on Tuesday why he should not consider records marked classified as genuinely classified. Dearie pressed Trump's lawyers to make clear whether they plan to assert that the records had been declassified as Trump claims.
Trump's lawyers proposed Dearie to serve as special master.
"Unless Trump can come up with real evidence saying he went through some kind of declassification procedure and declassified this stuff, there's no way he can prevail on this, and if he had that evidence his lawyers would have presented it," said Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University.
Even as he has stated that he declassified the records, Trump also has publicly suggested that the FBI planted them at Mar-a-Lago. Dearie on Thursday asked Trump's lawyers to provide any evidence backing this up.
David Laufman, the Justice Department's former head of counterintelligence, said Trump's comments on Fox News were highly incriminating.
"Prosecutors must lick their chops every time Trump makes a public statement that is equivalent to making evidentiary admissions, like talking about sending documents marked classified down to Mar-a-Lago because, according to his account, he thought about declassifying them," Laufman said.
"It was a great day for the rule of law," Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and current law professor at the University of Michigan, said of the 11th Circuit's ruling. "It says that the law matters more than anyone's loyalty to a particular person."
© Reuters
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Criminal Donald now claims he had the power to declassify documents just “by thinking about it.” No really, he said this. Mind control as a criminal defense. What’s left of his psyche is shattering under the pressure. He knows it’s all over for him.
If a President can toss out an election by just thinking it was corrupt, why can't he declassify documents by just thinking they should be declassified? :)
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Appeals court rules DOJ can regain access to sensitive documents seized in Trump search
Watch:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-classified-documents-justice-department-11th-circuit-court-of-appeals-stay/
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Special Master Gives Trump One Week To Prove Mar-A-Lago ‘Planted’ Evidence Claim
As legal battles mount for Donald Trump, the special master reviewing documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago has given the former president one week to back up his claims that evidence was planted during the search.
Watch:
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Trump's team was happy — until the 11th circuit derailed them on Wednesday: report
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Donald Trump's legal team thought they were effectively delaying the FBI investigation into the public documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago until the conservative 11th Circuit Court of Appeals stymied their efforts according to a new report.
MSNBC's Yasmin Vossoughian interview Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell about the latest in the special master review ordered by controversial Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon.
Vossoughian noted a story Lowell published on Saturday.
"Trump’s goal in requesting a special master was multi-pronged from the start, according to sources familiar with the matter, and the principal – though publicly unstated – aim was to apply the brakes on the criminal investigation, after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago took Trump’s lawyers by surprise," Lowell reported. "Trump effectively secured a two-and-a-half week pause in the criminal investigation from the time that Cannon enjoined the department on Labor Day to the appeals court ruling on Wednesday – a delay that former US attorneys said would not have materially affected the case."
Lowell expanded on his report.
Lowell said, "I've been talking to a couple of Trump advisers, people close to trump's legal team, they say the whole effort to try to get the special master was principally in order to slow down the investigation."
"And that seemed to be working until Wednesday of last week when the 11th Circuit ruled that the one hundred classified documents actually could not part of the special master process and that the Justice Department could regain access to those documents," he explained. "Which means now that federal investigators can move ahead to that criminal investigation."
"The most serious parts of that criminal investigation — the obstruction of justice element and the violation of the Espionage Act, the willful retention of national defense information — those are really, really serious potential charges. The fact the Justice Department has those materials means that Trump's effort to delay this has been effectively stymied."
Watch:
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Feds should hunt for evidence Trump stashed classified papers at Bedminster: former prosecutor
On MSNBC Thursday, former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade argued that Justice Department officials should look at other properties of former President Donald Trump, in search of more classified document stashes like that he held at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida.
One of the significant consequences of this, noted McQuade, would be that Trump could not rely on Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon to bail him out again, as she attempted to do with the documents seized at his Florida property.
"Barbara, given the fact we now have sort of two kind of types of judges — one judge who was very solicitous, we'll say that, solicitous of Donald Trump's claims that he could go back to if Bedminster was searched, but you also have the 11th Circuit saying no, no, these belong to the government and they have the interest in them," said anchor Joy Reid. "What do you think would be the hurdles that, theoretically, if the DOJ were to say, now we do want to search other properties, could Trump play the same game again and go back to the same judge, Cannon, and do this dance again?"
"Well, if they looked in Bedminster, it's in the jurisdiction of a judge in that district," said McQuade. "So district of New Jersey if we're talking about Bedminster. To get in the door there, they would need to be able to establish, DOJ would, probable cause not only that a crime has been committed, which I think they have established, but also probable cause to believe the documents would be stored at that location."
McQuade then laid out what DOJ officials would have to do to be able to search that property.
"I can imagine part of the damage assessment and the criminal investigation is to investigate what happened to these documents in the missing folders and interview people who work at Bedminster to find out if they have seen evidence of this," said McQuade. "If they have a witness who says, oh, yeah, I saw boxes come in the door, that could be a probable cause. If Trump wanted to challenge that, he would have to do it in New Jersey and begin his judge-shopping again."
Watch:
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Trump advisers panicked DOJ investigation is moving 'perilously fast': report
According to a report from the Guardian, advisers to Donald Trump are beginning to panic that the Department of Justice's investigation into top secret documents that were illegally whisked away to his Mar-a-Lago resort is moving much faster than they had hoped.
This past week saw special master Raymond Dearie put the former president and his legal team on the spot over Trump's claims that he declassified the documents, as well as his assertions that the FBI "planted" evidence against him.
As the Guardian's Hugo Lowell wrote, a decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was also a damaging blow to the Trump team's attempts to stall the DOJ.
That has them panicking.
"The 29-page decision amounted to a sharp rebuke of the rulings by US district court judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case in Florida, but it also brought an end to Trump’s attempt to slow down the investigation that his advisers feared was moving perilously fast," the report states before adding, "Being allowed to examine the roughly 100 documents marked classified means justice department investigators can now resume the investigation into the most serious lines of inquiry – the willful retention of national defense information and obstruction – with the primary evidence itself."
With the ruling saying Trump's lawyers won't be able to review the documents themselves, Lowell suggests that is making them even more apprehensive.
"Trump’s goal in requesting a special master was multi-pronged from the start, according to sources familiar with the matter, and the principal – though publicly unstated – aim was to apply the brakes on the criminal investigation, after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago took Trump’s lawyers by surprise," he wrote. "A second major aim, the sources said, was to use the special master motion as a vehicle to get more insight into what documents the FBI retrieved from the property because they were initially in the dark about the extent of Trump’s, as well as their own, potential exposure."
Read More Here:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/24/donald-trump-investigation-mar-a-lago-legal-woes
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Having these right wing Trump apologists on Sunday morning shows is just a total waste of time.
You already know right from the gate that you are going to hear scripted right wing talking points in order for them to cover and protect Criminal Donald.
Barrasso played dumb trying to give legitimacy to the asinine claim that a "president can declasssify documents with their mind".
He then went on to the usual right wing talking point "I've never seen anything like that" regarding the FBI raid at Donnie's residence.
Nothing like that ever happened before, because we never had a criminal ex president steal the most sensitive top secret and nuclear documents to stash at his home.
Barrasso then parrots the right wing talking point saying "It's become political" trying to cause division turning it into a political issue instead of the treasonous crime that it is.
There's nothing "political" about it. Any private citizen that stole top secret classified documents would get raided by the FBI and be under a criminal investigation.
So, right wingers attempt to cover up the severity of Criminal Donald's crime by "playing dumb" to push the asinine claims of Trump. Then they attempt to protect him by trying to claim the raid was done for "political reasons" and it's "unprecedented".
Never once do these right wingers ever condemn their cult leader for committing treason and putting our national security in danger.
And this is the Republican party who falsely claims they are more effective at foreign policy and protecting our national security.
What a joke, this is Republican party that covers up and protects a criminal who put our national security in jeopardy and they simply do not care. Their only goal is to shield Trump from his treason.
The Republican party is not concerned about keeping America safe or working for the American people. Their goal is to cover up for Donnie and protect him from his crimes. They already showed us that twice when Republicans refused to hold him accountable to convict him at two impeachment trials and now they cover up for him after we learned he stole Top Secret nuclear documents.
The Republican party is a cult designed only to appease and cover up for Donald Trump.
ABC host scolds GOP senator: 'You know a president can't declassify documents by thinking about it'
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ABC host George Stephanopoulos scolded Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) after he pretended not to know whether presidents could declassify documents with their minds.
"Even his lawyers have provided no evidence that he declassified the documents," Stephanopoulos told Barrasso in reference to government documents found at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
"Trump said this week that as president, he could declassify documents by thinking about it," the host added. "Do you agree with that?"
"I've not heard that one before," Barrasso replied. "I don't know anything about the rules for when a president declassifies documents and information. What I do know is what I'd like to see from a Senate standpoint is I'd like to see the Department of Justice come to us and show us in a classified setting what the information is, what they've done. I thought the raid at the former president's home — I've never seen anything like that."
"Senator!" Stephanopoulos exclaimed.
"It's become political," Barrasso continued. "So I want to get a briefing so that we can then be informed to see what actually happened here."
"That was a rhetorical question," the ABC host shot back. "You know that a president can't declassify documents by thinking about it. Why can't you say so?"
Barrasso paused for a moment and then replied.
"I don't think a president can declassify documents by saying so — by thinking about it," he admitted.
Watch:
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Having these right wing Trump apologists on Sunday morning shows is just a total waste of time.
You already know right from the gate that you are going to hear scripted right wing talking points in order for them to cover and protect Criminal Donald.
Barrasso played dumb trying to give legitimacy to the asinine claim that a "president can declasssify documents with their mind".
He then went on to the usual right wing talking point "I've never seen anything like that" regarding the FBI raid at Donnie's residence.
Nothing like that ever happened before, because we never had a criminal ex president steal the most sensitive top secret and nuclear documents to stash at his home.
Barrasso then parrots the right wing talking point saying "It's become political" trying to cause division turning it into a political issue instead of the treasonous crime that it is.
There's nothing "political" about it. Any private citizen that stole top secret classified documents would get raided by the FBI and be under a criminal investigation.
So, right wingers attempt to cover up the severity of Criminal Donald's crime by "playing dumb" to push the asinine claims of Trump. Then they attempt to protect him by trying to claim the raid was done for "political reasons" and it's "unprecedented".
Never once do these right wingers ever condemn their cult leader for committing treason and putting our national security in danger.
And this is the Republican party who falsely claims they are more effective at foreign policy and protecting our national security.
What a joke, this is Republican party that covers up and protects a criminal who put our national security in jeopardy and they simply do not care. Their only goal is to shield Trump from his treason.
The Republican party is not concerned about keeping America safe or working for the American people. Their goal is to cover up for Donnie and protect him from his crimes. They already showed us that twice when Republicans refused to hold him accountable to convict him at two impeachment trials and now they cover up for him after we learned he stole Top Secret nuclear documents.
The Republican party is a cult designed only to appease and cover up for Donald Trump.
ABC host scolds GOP senator: 'You know a president can't declassify documents by thinking about it'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/george-stephanopoulos-and-john-barrasso.jpg?id=31819147&width=2400&height=1350)
ABC host George Stephanopoulos scolded Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) after he pretended not to know whether presidents could declassify documents with their minds.
"Even his lawyers have provided no evidence that he declassified the documents," Stephanopoulos told Barrasso in reference to government documents found at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
"Trump said this week that as president, he could declassify documents by thinking about it," the host added. "Do you agree with that?"
"I've not heard that one before," Barrasso replied. "I don't know anything about the rules for when a president declassifies documents and information. What I do know is what I'd like to see from a Senate standpoint is I'd like to see the Department of Justice come to us and show us in a classified setting what the information is, what they've done. I thought the raid at the former president's home — I've never seen anything like that."
"Senator!" Stephanopoulos exclaimed.
"It's become political," Barrasso continued. "So I want to get a briefing so that we can then be informed to see what actually happened here."
"That was a rhetorical question," the ABC host shot back. "You know that a president can't declassify documents by thinking about it. Why can't you say so?"
Barrasso paused for a moment and then replied.
"I don't think a president can declassify documents by saying so — by thinking about it," he admitted.
Watch:
Top post.
A Dictator can make classified documents unclassified, just by thinking about it. Yes, there is a formal process that needs to be gone through before classified documents can become unclassified. Or a President can just decide to do this himself.
A Dictator can change the law just by thinking about it. The Electoral Act, like other laws of Congress, generally have to be followed. Hence, the Vice President shall accept the Electoral ballots as submitted by the states and accepted by Congress. Or, if the President thinks so, the Vice President may refuse to do this and send the Electoral ballots back to the states, or perhaps just decide for himself to reject that state's Electoral ballots.
A Dictator can nullify votes just by thinking about. Yes, there is a formal process where manual recounts can be requested. Or an appeal to the courts of the Election results can reverse an election. But a third way is for the President to nullify the votes just by thinking about it. Just by thinking the election counting was a fraud. Just by thinking that Dominion Voting Systems was corrupt and the software miscounted the ballots. There is no need for a manual recount to be run to verify this. Just by thinking about it, a President can nullify the people's votes.
The MAGA crowd does not stick with Trump despite his threat to democracy. They do so because of it. It is his greatest appeal. Other Republican candidates can adopt and support the same issues Trump does. But none of them have demonstrated that they would do all they can to overturn an election. To jettison democracy. To do the only thing that can allow the now minority white people to seize control of the government and keep control permanently. Only jettisoning democracy can do this. Hence, their support for Trump, regardless of what he does. And one more won election, by whatever means it takes, may be enough to make this a reality.
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Trump's delay tactics pushed special master Dearie to respond with a 'master stroke' that helps the DOJ
According to at least one legal expert, Donald Trump's well-known procedure of using delaying tactics in legal disputes is crashing and burning as he attempts to battle the Department of Justice's investigation into the theft of highly-sensitive documents he whisked away to his Mar-a-Lago home.
As the Daily Beast reports, the former president suffered major setbacks last week after special master Raymond Dearie began his work -- after Trump's legal team suggested his selection and Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon approved -- with things going swiftly downhill for Trump's defense so far.
With Cannon giving Dearie plenty of time to rule on the dispute over hundreds of documents, he has instead worked faster than expected, and even accelerated his investigation, with what one law professor called a "master stroke" that should concern the former president.
According to the Beast's Jose Pagliery, Trump's demand for a special master "may have actually backfired and put him on a fast-track collision course with the federal government he once led."
Faced with Trump lawyers' refusal to identify what documents the former president insists he declassified, Dearie has asked them to provide evidence on a short deadline, and hired an associate, at Trump's expense, to speed the process along.
"Raymond Dearie, the semi-retired Brooklyn federal judge specifically brought in to second-guess the Justice Department, has actually used his special master role to speed up the review," the Beast report states before adding, "Dearie is even bringing in reinforcements. In an order Thursday, Dearie said he’s tapping retired magistrate judge James Orenstein to help sort through the gargantuan mountain of 11,000 documents—and without hesitation ordered Trump to pay him $500 an hour to do it."
According to University of Richmond law school professor Carl W. Tobias, Trump has only himself to blame for the turn of events.
“Who knows what’s still at Mar-a-Lago? Who knows where the rest of it is? It’s obvious that Trump can’t be trusted—and neither can his lawyers. But at least the bluff has been called on using the courts to delay this,” he told the Beast's Pagliery.
Referring to the "master stroke" of hiring Orenstein, Tobias added, "That will expedite matters exponentially, and that’s all good. The whole point of this litigation is to delay. [Dearie] has a reputation as a no-nonsense, very professional, very experienced jurist… he has cut through the bullsh*t offered up by Trump’s lawyers and gotten to the point.”
George Washington University law school professor Stephen A. Saltzburg agreed, explaining, "Judge Cannon tried to throw a lifeline of delay, and it didn’t work… [Dearie] is the kind of judge who’s been around a long time. He’s not going to tolerate wasted time. And he’s not going to be played."
The report adds that Dearie's move will thus allow the DOJ to accelerate their investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act as well as arrive at a determination into accusations of obstruction.
Read More Here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-special-master-delay-is-already-backfiring
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‘We have incredible things’: Trump surprised NYT reporter last year by boasting he kept White House documents
Former President Donald Trump surprised New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman by casually mentioning that he had kept White House documents after leaving office.
The New York Times reporter revealed in her forthcoming book, "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," that the former president told her Sept. 16, 2021, at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that he had held onto some government records that should have been sent to the National Archives, according to excerpts published by Axios.
"He demurred when I asked if he had taken any documents of note upon departing the White House — 'nothing of great urgency, no,' he said, before mentioning the letters that Kim Jong-un had sent him, which he had showed off to so many Oval Office visitors that advisers were concerned he was being careless with sensitive material," Haberman reported.
Haberman expressed surprise that he took those letters, which he eventually returned months later after the National Archives demanded them.
"He kept talking, seeming to have registered my surprise, and said, 'No, I think that’s in the archives, but … Most of it is in the archives, but the Kim Jong-un letters … We have incredible things,'" Haberman wrote.
The FBI searched Trump's home last month at Mar-a-Lago, where they seized more than 11,000 documents and 1,800 other items, including about 100 classified materials -- including some marked "top secret," and the search warrant shows investigators believe he may have violated the Espionage Act and other laws.
Read More Here: https://www.axios.com/2022/09/26/trump-haberman-doj-documents
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Laurence Tribe @tribelaw
This Friday is the “put up or shut up” date for Donald Trump’s claim that the FBI planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago, per the Special Master, Judge Raymond Dearie. By then Trump must identify WHICH seized materials were “planted.” Yeah, right.
https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1574582499220537362
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Donald Trump is learning that appointing judges doesn't always guarantee wins
It’s hard to rate which legal news was worse for Trump last week.
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Last week brought a relentless deluge of legal news for former President Donald J. Trump. All of it was bad, and some of it came courtesy of judges he or former Republican President Ronald Reagan had appointed.
Judge Raymond J. Dearie, a Reagan appointee who is serving as a special master to review documents the FBI seized during its August search of Trump’s Florida home, has been appropriately skeptical of the Trump team’s legal tactics and demanded Tuesday that Trump’s attorneys back up some of Trump’s claims with evidence. Then, the next day, a three-judge appellate court panel with two Trump appointees rolled back a previous ruling that had wrongly gone Trump’s way.
The above doesn’t even include the lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James filed accusing Trump and the Trump Organization of civil fraud. That civil case threatens to undermine the fairy tale that Trump is a successful businessman worthy of our trust as the leader of the free world. The criminal investigation into how documents the Department of Justice says are sensitive ended up at Trump’s Florida home could threaten the freedom of whoever is implicated. And Americans aren’t wrong to worry about how Trump stacking the judiciary might come into play.
But the rulings related to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago show that there’s something to Chief Justice John Roberts’ statement: “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.” Roberts made that statement in 2018, in response to an angry Trump dismissing a ruling against his administration as having come from an “Obama judge.”
Reader, I can hear you from here. You’re yelling at me that my argument is hogwash (only you won’t use that word) and that all we need to do is look at the Supreme Court to see just how much Republican-appointed federal judges have shaped, often for the worse, our country. Remember, you’re saying, when women had a constitutionally protected right to obtain an abortion? I do remember, and I agree that thanks in part to the three Supreme Court justices Trump appointed that right no longer exists.
But it’s also true that federal judges appointed by Republicans don’t always rule in ways that hand Republican politicians political wins. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Trump and his boosters brought baseless lawsuits throughout the country. They were uniformly rejected by judges of both political stripes.
On Wednesday, at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel, made up of two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee, handed Trump a significant legal setback. The three judges unanimously clapped back at an egregiously wrongheaded opinion written by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who had ruled that the Justice Department had to pause its examination of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. The three appellate judges concluded that, contrary to Cannon’s ruling, the DOJ could continue using the documents marked as classified that were found at Trump’s home and that the special master did not need to review those documents.
Trump’s legal team had fared no better Tuesday, the day before, during the first hearing Dearie held as special master. It was Trump, of course, who had asked for a special master to review the documents for attorney-client privilege issues (which the Justice Department’s filter team had already done) and executive privilege issues (which can’t legally exist in this scenario). Trump put forward two names of people to serve in the role of special master, and the DOJ agreed to Dearie. But given Dearie’s evenhandedness thus far, Trump and his team may regret asking for a special master.
Again, Dearie held his hearing the day before the 11th Circuit denied Trump access to documents the FBI obtained at Mar-a-Lago that were marked as classified and allowed the DOJ to continue to use those documents in its investigation.
Out of court, Trump has claimed that he properly had possession of many of the documents the FBI found because he had declassified them. But in court filings, Trump’s team has been careful to only say Trump had the power to declassify documents, not that he actually did declassify the documents. In Dearie’s court Tuesday, Trump’s legal team refused to provide any evidence that Trump declassified any of these documents. This prompted Dearie’s now-viral comment, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
Of course, even if Trump did declassify these documents, that would not necessarily save him from criminal liability if the Justice Department pursued charges against him. Some documents must be properly stored and handled, even if they have been declassified.
meaning not under oath, Trump has claimed the FBI might have planted the documents left at his house. Dearie ordered Trump’s legal team to state in a court filing, meaning under penalty of perjury, whether the legal team thinks FBI agents lied about the documents that were obtained at Mar-a-Lago. Dearie’s order can best be described as a “put up or shut up” moment for Trump and his team.
It’s hard to rate which legal news was worse for Trump last week. But one big takeaway is that contrary to how Trump might have expected them to behave, judges he or other Republicans appointed aren’t leaping to take his side. Instead, in two different courtrooms, Republican-appointed judges handed Trump big legal setbacks. The 11th Circuit corrected part of Cannon’s erroneous legal ruling and allowed the DOJ to use the documents marked as classified in its investigation. Dearie sharply questioned Trump’s legal team and fairly handled the case. These are judges following the rule of law. Given Trump’s frivolous claims, this is bad for him.
Let’s not kid ourselves. Sometimes it matters whether or not a judge was appointed by a Republican president or a Democratic president. And our suspicions of judges as partisan actors is validated. But not always, and not in every case. Last week was a good reminder of that fact
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/why-trump-struck-out-last-week-republican-appointed-judges-n1299078
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High-priced lawyer Trump brought on to help Mar-a-Lago docs case 'sidelined' in less than a month: CNN
Christopher Kise, the high-priced lawyer brought on by former President Donald Trump to help with his defense in the Mar-a-Lago stolen documents case, has reportedly been "sidelined" after less than a month on the job.
CNN reports that Kise "is expected to remain on Trump’s legal team but is not leading the work related to the federal government’s investigation" into Trump's mishandling of top-secret government documents that he kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort and failed to return even after receiving a subpoena for them.
CNN says it does not know specifically why Kise has been sidelined, but it reports that he "may instead focus his efforts on the other investigations Trump is facing, which range from his business practices to the January 6 insurrection."
Kise, a former Florida solicitor general, was brought on just weeks ago to add some much-needed experience to Trump's legal team, which before had included former One America New Network host Christina Bobb, Florida insurance lawyer Lindsey Halligan, and Alina Habba, who previously served as general counsel for a parking-garage firm.
Trump's outside spending arm reportedly paid Kise a hefty $3 million retainer fee for his services after he was rejected by multiple other attorneys who had relevant experience in litigating complicated cases involving national security.
A Trump spokesman told CNN that Kise remains a key part of Trump's legal team and "any suggestion otherwise is untrue."
Read More Here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/politics/chris-kise-trump-mar-a-lago/index.html
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Trump is 'quiet quitting' special master case after making 'terrible blunder': legal expert
Former general counsel of the FBI Andrew Weissmann explained why he thinks Donald Trump is "quiet quitting" his special master case.
Weissmann, alongside former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman was interviewed by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell.
Special master Raymond Dearie ordered Trump's lawyers to secure a document vendor, but in a Tuesday legal filing, the Department of Justice said none of the five major firms want to work for Trump, so the federal government guaranteed payment.
"I think there is something we can take away from what is seems like a small potatoes kind of thing," Weissmann said. "I think what Donald Trump is doing is quiet quitting. He brought this case and he realize he is worth worse off from having brought this case."
Weissman noted reports attorney Chris Kise left only weeks after being paid $3 million.
"I wouldn't want to work on this either," he said.
"So he is really strategically made a terrible blunder," Weissmann concluded.
Watch:
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Trump judge's own special master rebukes her for limiting his ability to do his job
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When former President Donald Trump went to court against the Justice Department to stall the federal investigation into classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, a district judge he appointed, Aileen Cannon, granted Trump everything he asked for, appointing a special master to review the documents for executive privilege even though no legal precedent grants a former president privilege over national security documents, and effectively blocking the DOJ from conducting a national security review until the special master's work is complete.
Now, the special master himself, Senior Judge Raymond Dearie of Brooklyn, is rebuking Cannon for a decision that hamstrings a key function of the job she assigned him to do, in a filing published by Just Security. Specifically, he is taking issue with her rescinding his authority to issue interim reports as he conducts his review — and saying her reasoning for this made no sense.
"In the original Appointing Order, the Court directed that 'the Special Master shall submit interim reports and recommendations as appropriate. Upon receipt and resolution of any interim reports and recommendations, the Court will consider prompt adjustments to the Court’s orders as necessary,'" said the filing. "However, the Court later struck that language as part of its order implementing an unrelated ruling by the Eleventh Circuit. As the language quoted above as to interim reports and adjustments to prior orders is consistent with the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling and the efficient administration of the Appointing Order as amended, the undersigned respectfully recommends that the Court issue an order reinstating that language."
This comes after a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit, two of whom were also Trump appointees, reversed the portion of Cannon's order blocking the DOJ from access to documents that were marked classified. The special master review will continue for the unclassified documents.
Dearie was mutually agreed to as the best choice of special master by Trump and the DOJ. According to previous reports, Trump was hoping that because Dearie previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court, and because that court was at the center of a long-running Fox News talking point about the FBI supposedly abusing power in the Russia investigation, that Dearie would automatically view the FBI and DOJ as corrupt and be a sympathetic to him.
So far, however, Trump's hopes haven't panned out. At the first special master hearing, Dearie aggressively pushed Trump's legal team to take a position on the former president's repeated claims he can declassify top secret documents without telling anyone — and made clear he takes the DOJ at its word that documents labeled classified are, in fact, classified.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-aileen-cannon-special-master/
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New DOJ filing exposes Trump’s secret objections — and asks special master to call his bluff
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The Justice Department in a filing on Tuesday revealed the Trump legal team's objections that they tried to keep under wraps.
Federal Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master tasked with reviewing thousands of documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, earlier this month challenged Trump's lawyers to assert whether they believe his public claim that the FBI may have "planted" evidence during the search and produce evidence of Trump's claim that he "declassified" secret national security documents before taking them home.
Trump's team apparently responded with objections to Dearie's plan for the special master review but they were not made public until the Justice Department responded to them in a filing on Tuesday.
"Team Trump is filing complaints under seal for some reason, but DOJ is discussing it not under seal, so we can largely infer what Trump is upset about," New York Times national security reporter Charlie Savage flagged on Twitter.
The filing revealed that Trump's lawyers objected to Dearie's request that they verify that the search inventory filed by the DOJ is accurate, essentially daring Trump's team to assert his dubious claim that the FBI may have "planted" evidence in official court documents. The DOJ affirmed that its inventory is complete and accurate and urged Dearie to require Trump's lawyers to state whether they believe the list of items seized from the property is accurate.
Trump's lawyers also objected to Dearie's request for them to explain whether they are claiming attorney-client privilege or executive privilege after Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee that ordered the special master review, failed to ask for a distinction.
It's unclear exactly what Trump's third objection was.
"Team Trump doesn't want to brief something that DOJ says is fine briefing. They don't say what, but Dearie's directive had discussed a briefing schedule for any eventual Rule 44 motion by Trump for return of property seized in the search, so it's probably that," Savage reported.
Trump's lawyers previously declined to provide evidence of his claims that he "declassified" the documents, arguing that they may need to save the evidence for a defense in a future hearing and a possible prosecution.
"Trump's team objects to the Special Master's order requiring them to state whether particular documents are privileged or declassified and provide evidence in support of any claim that a document was declassified," tweeted former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. "They want to have their cake and eat it too. They won't get that."
Mariotti also questioned why Trump's lawyers made the arguments under seal.
"That could be because their arguments are at odds with their public positions," Mariotti wrote.
The DOJ filing also revealed that Trump's team had trouble finding a vendor to digitize the documents that were seized for the special master review.
Trump's team "informed us this morning that none of the five document-review vendors proposed by the government" were "willing to be engaged" by Trump. The DOJ asked Dearie for an extra day to secure a vendor themselves. The DOJ expects Trump to "pay the vendor's invoices promptly when rendered," the filing said.
"This is absolutely hilarious," tweeted conservative attorney George Conway.
Trump's legal team has been in flux since the FBI raid in August, as he struggled to find an elite lawyer to represent him — and as some of his attorneys may face legal scrutiny themselves. Trump raised eyebrows earlier this month after he used donor money from his super PAC to pay attorney Chris Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who once represented a member of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro's government, a $3 million advance. But CNN reported on Tuesday that Kise has been "sidelined from the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation less than a month after he was brought on to represent Trump in the matter." A Trump spokesman denied the report and Kise told The Washington Post that he will still be working on the case.
"The infighting in this team," tweeted New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, "after one lawyer faced a search warrant and another two have gotten attention from DOJ over their statements to the feds on the documents, continues."
https://www.salon.com/2022/09/20/trumps-team-miscalculated-experts-say-trumps-handpicked-special-master-just-called-his-bluff/
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Judge Cannon’s rulings are so bad they raise a question that is ‘impossible not to ask’: ex-prosecutor
Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon once again received harsh criticism after another controversial ruling for the former president.
Following the six-page ruling, The New York Times headlined, "Judge Overrules Special Master’s Demands to Trump in Document Review."
"A federal judge on Thursday set aside a measure imposed by a special master asking former President Donald J. Trump to certify the accuracy of the F.B.I.’s inventory of the property it had seized from his Florida estate last month, overruling an arbiter she had appointed herself," the newspaper explained. "In removing the restrictions the special master had sought to impose, Judge Cannon essentially let Mr. Trump and his legal team out of a box that Judge Dearie had tried to put them in."
Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who also served as general counsel at the FBI, wrote, "If Cannon wanted to micromanage this she shd not have appointed a Special Master."
"Cannon’s treatment of Dearie, a far more senior and esteemed Article III judge, is one more piece of evidence that she is completely unfit to serve on the bench," he argued.
"What does Donald Trump have on Judge Cannon or her husband?" Weissman wondered.
"Something is so off in her decisions (and the court of appeals said as much) that it is impossible not to ask this question in all seriousness," he explained.
Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/us/trump-special-master-documents.html
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Trump blows off lawyer's warning that attacking DOJ makes it more likely he'll be charged: report
Just days after CNN reported that high-priced Trump lawyer Christopher Kise was being "sidelined" by other lawyers in his efforts to defend Trump from potential charges under the Espionage Act, a new report from the Washington Post is showing new details about why Kise has fallen out of favor.
According to the Post's sources, Kise has tried to get Trump to search for an off-ramp in the DOJ investigation into the twice-impeached former president's decision to store top-secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and then refuse to return them even after receiving a subpoena.
Kise has reportedly informed Trump that lobbing aggressive attacks on the DOJ makes it much more likely that he will face criminal charges, whereas taking a less combative approach could help convince the DOJ to resole the case "quietly" without charges.
So far, however, Kise's pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
"A Wednesday night court filing from Trump’s team was combative, with defense lawyers questioning the Justice Department’s truthfulness and motives," the paper writes. "Kise, whose name was listed alongside other lawyers’ in previous filings over the past four weeks, did not sign that one — an absence that underscored the division among the lawyers."
Trump paid a $3 million retainer fee to secure the services of Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who was seen by many legal experts as adding some heft to an otherwise lightweight legal team, which also includes former One America New Network host Christina Bobb, Florida insurance lawyer Lindsey Halligan, and Alina Habba, who previously served as general counsel for a parking-garage firm.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/politics/chris-kise-trump-mar-a-lago/index.html
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DOJ moves to appeal Judge Cannon’s special master in Trump documents case: report
On Friday, POLITICO's Kyle Cheney reported that the Justice Department is moving to appeal Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon's order for a special master to review the documents obtained in the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida.
The DOJ already appealed to the Eleventh Circuit for, and won, a narrow carveout of the 100 documents officially marked classified from Cannon's order, exempting those documents from the special master review. However, they argue in a new filing, the broader special master review still hampers a major criminal investigation.
"An expedited appeal would serve the interests of justice," said the filing. "Base on the district court's orders thus far, the government is barred from accessing all of the materials except those with classification markings recovered in August pursuant to a lawful search warrant — and it may continue to be barred from doing so until mid-December or later."
This order, the DOJ argued, means that "the government is ... unable to examine records that were commingled with materials bearing classification markings, including records that may shed light on, for example, how the materials bearing classification markings were transferred to Plaintiff's residence, how they were stored, and who may have accessed them." These documents, the filing added, may also reveal evidence of crimes unrelated to classified information, like obstruction and removal of government records.
According to Cheney, prosecutors discussed this appeal with Trump attorney Christopher M. Kise, who has said the former president opposes the relief sought by the DOJ.
Cannon has come under fire for a series of highly partisan decisions, including one that puts on hold a request by the special master, Senior Judge Raymond Dearie of Brooklyn, for Trump's legal team to certify that the FBI's inventory of property seized pursuant to the search warrant is accurate.
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1575989700778758150
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The door to remove Judge Aileen Cannon from the Trump case is now 'wide open': former prosecutor
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In a column for Slate, former federal prosecutor Robert Katzberg made the case that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's continued interference in the work being done by special master Raymond Dearie in the matter of government documents stolen by Donald Trump could lead to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stepping in and taking the case from her.
Earlier in the week, the Trump-appointed Cannon gave Donald Trump's legal team an assist by ruling that they did not need to comply with an order from Dearie and reply in a filing whether they believe the FBI agents lied about documents recovered at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort almost two months ago.
As Katzberg sees it, the Department of Justice could appeal, which they did late Friday, and that they may have a compelling case to ask for Cannon's removal -- although such moves rarely occur.
In his Slate column wrote, "Given the extreme and one-sided rulings Cannon has already made, DOJ need not fear making her more hostile than she has already shown herself to be, so the door to aggressive countermoves is wide open."
He explained, "One such choice would be to file a motion to remove Cannon from the matter entirely, arguing that her opinions have demonstrated a level of bias that cannot be tolerated—and further, that her continued oversight of the matter is a threat to national security."
Adding that the 11th Circuit has already stepped in to curb some of Cannon's excesses, Katzberg claimed it might be open to stepping in in a more forceful way.
"The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has already filed a stinging opinion that contains ample criticism of Cannon to quote in support," he wrote. "Appeals courts are hesitant to remove judges from a case, but here, there is a clear record of questionable decisions that have stymied an extremely significant criminal investigation and, per DOJ, undermined national security. Under these unusual circumstances, reassignment might well be an appropriate solution."
Read More Here:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/trump-cannon-dearie-special-master-justice-department.html
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DOJ's new appeal could mean it will be 'Goodnight, Aileen' for Trump-appointed judge: former deputy AG
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Reacting to a Department of Justice appeal to the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday that seeks to overturn yet another ruling by Judge Aileen Cannon, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman claimed a win for the DOJ would be a huge blow to the Donald Trump-appointed jurist.
Pushing back at Cannon's decision to allow Trump's lawyers to ignore demands and deadlines set down by special master Raymond Dearie, the DOJ asked for an expedited ruling.
According to Politico, the DOJ insisted, "The government is … unable to examine records that were commingled with materials bearing classification markings, including records that may shed light on, for example, how the materials bearing classification markings were transferred to Plaintiff’s residence, how they were stored, and who may have accessed them,” in a 15-page filing.
Politico's Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney added, "The filing also hints at prosecutors’ irritation with Cannon, a Trump appointee confirmed days after his defeat in the 2020 election. The Justice Department noted that she has repeatedly overruled decisions made by the special master she appointed at Trump’s suggestion, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Dearie."
According to Litman, after the 11th Circuit already rebuked Cannon, an additional notation in the latest filing could be used to undercut her even further.
"DOJ appeals Cannon's order on the merits, and proposes expedited schedule. Also adds new argument - that needs the rest of the 11,000+ docs to ascertain what happened to the classified ones. If they win, it's Goodnight, Aileen...," he tweeted.
Litman's suggestion comes at the same time as former prosecutor Robert Katzberg suggested that the DOJ could petition the 11th Circuit to take the Trump case away from her "... arguing that her opinions have demonstrated a level of bias that cannot be tolerated—and further, that her continued oversight of the matter is a threat to national security."
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trrump-aileen-cannon/