Mar-a-Lago raided

[George K]

@George-K said in Mar-a-Lago raided:

Trumps people are claiming that the FBI seized privileged attorney-client documents. If there were such a claim, DOJ should appoint a "special master" to determine what's privileged and what is not.

FBI - "Nope, not gonna happen."

See you in court:

Trump filed a lawsuit Monday seeking the appointment of a special master to review the materials seized by the FBI earlier this month.

Mr. Trump is also seeking a more detailed inventory of the items taken from his home in Mar-a-Lago, as well as the return of any items seized that weren’t within the scope of the search warrant.

“To date,the government has failed to legitimize its historic decision to raid the home of a President who had been fully cooperative,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers said in the civil complaint, titled Trump v. United States Government.

A special master is a third party, usually a retired judge, who reviews evidence to determine whether it is protected by attorney-client privilege or similar legal doctrines. A special master was used to review evidence taken from the home and office of Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and other felonies in 2018.

Earlier on Monday, a federal judge in Florida said again that he is inclined to make public at least part of an affidavit detailing the evidence that led the FBI to search Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, saying it would “promote public understanding of historically significant events.”

In a written order memorializing comments he made from the bench last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart agreed with the government that revealing too much of that document could expose witnesses and jeopardize the continuing investigation into the former president’s handling of classified information. But he rejected officials’ effort to keep the entire document–which would provide details about how the FBI established probable cause for its search–under seal and to argue that any effort to redact it placed an onerous burden on the government.

“Particularly given the intense public and historical interest in an unprecedented search of a former President’s residence, the Government has not yet shown that these administrative concerns are sufficient to justify sealing,” Judge Reinhart wrote. He gave the Justice Department until noon on Thursday to suggest portions of the document that should remain secret.

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

The fat man isn’t sending his best people.

[George K]

[George K]

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

[Catseye3]

"Trump Files Lawsuit Against U.S. Government, Claims ‘Most Americans’ Are Distressed by ‘Shockingly Aggressive’ Search of Former President’s Home"

Uh, not really, Donnie.

Lots more on the lawsuit here: https://lawandcrime.com/trump/trump-files-lawsuit-against-u-s-government-claims-most-americans-are-distressed-by-shockingly-aggressive-search-of-former-presidents-home/

[Horace]

Representing himself in the hopes of taking center stage in a trial that would be watched by exponentially more people than the Jan 6 hearings.

[jon-nyc]

Could just be that he’s using one of his former attorneys who has since been disbarred.

[Jolly]

Meanwhile, back at the Justice Department, the leaks have started.

Business as usual...

[George K]

@Jolly said in Mar-a-Lago raided:

Meanwhile, back at the Justice Department, the leaks have started.

Turley:

The New York Times story then affirms the position of the Justice Department as proven by the leaks.

“[T}he extent to which such a large number of highly sensitive documents remained at Mar-a-Lago for months, even as the department sought the return of all material that should have been left in government custody when Mr. Trump left office, suggested to officials that the former president or his aides had been cavalier in handling it, not fully forthcoming with investigators, or both.”

It is litigation by leak where the government prevents others (including the target) from seeing key representations made to the court while releasing selective facts to its own advantage. It shows utter contempt for the court and the public. The question is whether the court will take note of this series of leaks. Most judges do not like to be played so openly and publicly by government officials. Moreover, the leaks should push Garland to reverse course as suggested in a recent column and order substantive disclosures in the affidavit in light of the government’s prior leaks.

[Catseye3]

@Horace said in Mar-a-Lago raided:

Representing himself in the hopes of taking center stage in a trial that would be watched by exponentially more people than the Jan 6 hearings.

That's our Trump -- always creating rumpus, always in the spotlight. I wonder how many people it has occurred to that not only is this a pattern with him, but that it shows weakness; it shows his inability to sustain an image as a strong leader even when you don't see him. Like Reagan or Eisenhower. He cavorts always like a clown, juggling his stunts: "Look at me, look at me-e-e!"

[Jolly]

Well, look at the bright side ... He wasn't screwing his interns in the Whitehouse pool or getting his dick sucked by an intern in the Oval Office...

[Catseye3]

@Jolly said in Mar-a-Lago raided:

or getting his dick sucked by an intern in the Oval Office.

Probably everyplace else, though.

[Jolly]

@Catseye3 said in Mar-a-Lago raided:

@Jolly said in Mar-a-Lago raided:

or getting his dick sucked by an intern in the Oval Office.

Probably everyplace else, though.

If anything untoward would have happened in the hyper-gotcha media force field cast around all things Trump, everybody would have known about it.

[Axtremus]

https://www.salon.com/2022/08/23/lawyers-are-giggling-legal-experts-scratch-their-heads-at-trumps-very-strange-new-doj/

Lots of criticism on the supposed unprofessionalism of Trump’s court filing alleging violation of his 4th Amendment rights.

But this one thing piqued my interest, concerning Trump’s demand to have a “special master” to sift through the seized material:

Weissmann, the former federal prosecutor, said Trump's filing has a "fatal flaw" because it doesn't reckon with the fact that the documents legally belong to the National Archives, not the president.

"Nothing needs to be sifted because none of the documents are actually the former president's. These all belong, whether classified or not classified, to the national archives," …

[George K]

@Axtremus said in Mar-a-Lago raided:

"Nothing needs to be sifted because none of the documents are actually the former president's. These all belong, whether classified or not classified, to the national archives," …

How does he know that?

Were there personal documents seized?

Were communications between Trump and his attorneys seized?

Did the FBI, with it's long history of integrity leak that to him?

How does he know?

[Mik]

Yep. That's a big, unsupported and probably at least partially false, assertion.