FBI raids Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

[Rick Plant]

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.   

[Rick Plant]

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

[Rick Plant]

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

[Rick Plant]

Trump's first day with the special master isn't going very well



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

[Rick Plant]

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

[Rick Plant]

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.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

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. 

[Rick Plant]

'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