Takeaways from the ruling granting Trump's request for a special master in Mar-a-Lago probe

[Scott]

(CNN)  A federal judge threw a wrench Monday in the Justice Department investigation into potential mishandling of documents from former President Donald Trump's White House by granting his request for a special master to review evidence seized from his Florida home last month.

The win for Trump temporarily prevents the Justice Department's investigative team from accessing the thousands of documents -- some of which are marked as classified -- taken from Mar-a-Lago.

 

US District Judge Aileen Cannon cleared the way for a third-party attorney to review all the seized materials, not just for documents covered by attorney-client privilege -- the circumstance in which special masters are usually used -- but also for potential executive privilege concerns, a move the Justice Department has said would be "unprecedented."

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/05/politics/takeaways-trump-cannon-mar-a-lago-special-master/index.html

 

[SunnyinBangrak]

My takeaway from this request for a special master is surprise that the court order implicated the current president so directly. This is contrary to repeated claims that Biden was not involved in this latest witch hunt against the man the democrats are terrified of running against.

 I think this latest attack on Trump would have more chance to succeed if it weren't so obviously political, which the court order shows is the case. Maybe they should have redacted this to protect the democrat narrative? Oh well, better luck next time!

 

"On May 10, 2022, NARA informed Plaintiff that it would proceed with “provid[ing] the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President,beginningas early as Thursday,May 12,2022”

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/master-order/bd04012fd4a34767/full.pdf

[2baht]

Surely the majority of Americans can't be stupid enough to return the buffoon to power.......surely!

[Chomper Higgot]

It’s taken 28 days for Trump’s legal team to wake up, find a Trump appointed Judge and convince her to issue a gibberish order that the appeals court will drive a corrections department paddy wagon through.

 

 

The DOJ had their ducks in a row, they knew what they were looking for, they knew where to find what they were looking for, they obtained a lawful search warrant and they undertook a lawful search finding exactly what they were looking for (and then some).

 

In the background they had already liaised with the Director of National Security to ensure they had the security cleared personnel available to sort, catalog and review the stolen TS/SCI documents that were recovered.

 

The DOJ have their evidence, US security services are already undertaking impact assessments of the risks/threats Trump’s actions have created for the US.

 

 

Trump’s half baked and fat too late delay tactic will be appealed and will be tossed out.

 

Justice is coming.

 

Trump is in indictment watch.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Chomper Higgot

[placeholder]

39 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

My takeaway from this request for a special master is surprise that the court order implicated the current president so directly. This is contrary to repeated claims that Biden was not involved in this latest witch hunt against the man the democrats are terrified of running against.

 I think this latest attack on Trump would have more chance to succeed if it weren't so obviously political, which the court order shows is the case. Maybe they should have redacted this to protect the democrat narrative? Oh well, better luck next time!

 

"On May 10, 2022, NARA informed Plaintiff that it would proceed with “provid[ing] the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President,beginningas early as Thursday,May 12,2022”

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/master-order/bd04012fd4a34767/full.pdf

The acting head of Nara sought permission from Biden to disallow claims of executive privilege on the part of trump. Button authorized her to do whatever she thought best. That was the extent of his involvement. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by placeholder

[Chomper Higgot]

37 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

My takeaway from this request for a special master is surprise that the court order implicated the current president so directly. This is contrary to repeated claims that Biden was not involved in this latest witch hunt against the man the democrats are terrified of running against.

 I think this latest attack on Trump would have more chance to succeed if it weren't so obviously political, which the court order shows is the case. Maybe they should have redacted this to protect the democrat narrative? Oh well, better luck next time!

 

"On May 10, 2022, NARA informed Plaintiff that it would proceed with “provid[ing] the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President,beginningas early as Thursday,May 12,2022”

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/master-order/bd04012fd4a34767/full.pdf

Trump’s lawyers signed and submitted a statement that all requested documents had been returned.

 

The FBI had evidence (obviously someone on the inside) that demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Judge who authorized the search that the signed statements were a lie.

 

Evidence recovered proved it was a lie.

 

Justice is coming.

 

Trump is on indictment watch.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

The acting head of Nara sought permission from Biden to disallow claims of executive privilege on the part of trump. Button authorized her to do whatever she thought best. That was the extent of his involvement. 

And executive privilege resides with the sitting President.

[Scott]

49 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

And executive privilege resides with the sitting President.

A former president can exercise privilege over the release of documents. 

 

Before releasing any records of a former President, the Archivist of the United States must notify both the incumbent President and the former President of any records which the Archivist believes may be subject to a claim of Executive privilege. Each President then has 30 days to submit the claim in writing to the Archivist.

Incumbent President

The incumbent President consults with the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. If the President chooses to submit a claim of Executive privilege, the Archivist will not release the privileged records unless directed to do so by an incumbent President or by a final court order.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12667

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, Scott said:

A former president can exercise privilege over the release of documents. 

 

Before releasing any records of a former President, the Archivist of the United States must notify both the incumbent President and the former President of any records which the Archivist believes may be subject to a claim of Executive privilege. Each President then has 30 days to submit the claim in writing to the Archivist.

Incumbent President

The incumbent President consults with the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. If the President chooses to submit a claim of Executive privilege, the Archivist will not release the privileged records unless directed to do so by an incumbent President or by a final court order.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12667

Correct, but a sitting President can override him.

[bendejo]

If the political polarity was reversed, the GOP would be screaming for the judge to recuse herself.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Excellent news.

Hopefully that will stop any leaks happening.

[placeholder]

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

Excellent news.

Hopefully that will stop any leaks happening.

Well, if you mean by excellent that it will delay the inquiry, then you may have a point.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

My takeaway from this request for a special master is surprise that the court order implicated the current president so directly. This is contrary to repeated claims that Biden was not involved in this latest witch hunt against the man the democrats are terrified of running against.

 I think this latest attack on Trump would have more chance to succeed if it weren't so obviously political, which the court order shows is the case. Maybe they should have redacted this to protect the democrat narrative? Oh well, better luck next time!

 

"On May 10, 2022, NARA informed Plaintiff that it would proceed with “provid[ing] the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President,beginningas early as Thursday,May 12,2022”

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/master-order/bd04012fd4a34767/full.pdf

I would be extremely surprised if Biden was not consulted about the Mar a Lago raid prior to it happening, given the political uproar that should have been obvious was going to ( and has happened ) occur.

Raiding a former president for anything would, IMO, require consent from the highest political circles.

However, I think whoever authorized it misread the political scene, and the consequences caught them by surprise.

 

If nothing else, it has apparently given Trump fresh ammunition with which to energise his base against the establishment.

[thaibeachlovers]

7 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Well, if you mean by excellent that it will delay the inquiry, then you may have a point.

I suspect that if they delay too long, once the GOP takes the house back in November, the "inquiry" will quietly fade away.

I don't envy whoever has to make the decision, given the potential political implications.

Charge him before the elections and the inevitable accusations of politicking will arise; wait till after the elections and potentially lose the opportunity to disqualify the Donald from running in 2024.

[Eric Loh]

This is an unprecedented intervention by a judge into an ongoing federal criminal investigation like in third world politics and just like in Thailand. Show how much Trump has shredded US institutions and some still think he is the choosen one. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Eric Loh
wrong word

[bendejo]

Personally, I give up on this one.  I doubt it will be resolved before 2024 elections, if ever.  Looks like a ducks-in-row operation.

Fret not, there is still:

the 1/6 treason,

the various fake electors scams

the threatening phone calls/vote count scam

the crazytown rudy-sidney-pillowman antics (my fave Sidney Powell tried to get the DOD to 'rescue' the CIA director )

financial follies in NYC

But the Mar a Lago treason, that's the Big Fish.

 

And then there are new things that may come to light, and perhaps DOJ will have another case involving MaL that has nothing to do with the docs.  E.g. an FBI agent tripped over a drunk Russian operative while visiting.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by bendejo

[placeholder]

32 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I suspect that if they delay too long, once the GOP takes the house back in November, the "inquiry" will quietly fade away.

I don't envy whoever has to make the decision, given the potential political implications.

Charge him before the elections and the inevitable accusations of politicking will arise; wait till after the elections and potentially lose the opportunity to disqualify the Donald from running in 2024.

What you don't seem to understand is that all this began with Trump's refusal to return documents that he had no business having including classified documents. All he had to do was return the documents when asked and this would have been over. Instead, he actually refused to comply with a Grand Jury subpoena. He claimed that he was cooperating with NARA  but this turned out to be false. His attorneys clearly lied about the absence of all classified documents still in Trump's possession. 

If this turns into a criminal investigation, as seems likely, it will be entirely Trump's fault. Unless you believe that an ex-President is above the law.

[Berkshire]

9 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Personally, I give up on this one.  I doubt it will be resolved before 2024 elections, if ever.  Looks like a ducks-in-row operation.

Fret not, there is still:

the 1/6 treason,

the various fake electors scams

the threatening phone calls/vote count scam

the crazytown rudy-sidney-pillowman antics (my fave Sidney Powell tried to get the DOD to 'rescue' the CIA director )

financial follies in NYC

But the Mar a Lago treason, that's the Big Fish.

 

And then there are new things that may come to light, and perhaps DOJ will have another case involving MaL that has nothing to do with the docs.  E.g. an FBI agent tripped over a drunk Russian operative while visiting.

 

 

Agree.  This judge is clearly playing political games, but it'll only delay the inevitable.  Trump is knee-deep in so many other investigations.  But I do think that AG Garland's slow, methodical, by-the-book approach will only embolden Trump.  The AG needs to stop messing around and indict Trump already for the J6 debacle.  The NARA/classified stuff can be added on later, if proven to be egregious.  

[Eric Loh]

48 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I suspect that if they delay too long, once the GOP takes the house back in November, the "inquiry" will quietly fade away.

I don't envy whoever has to make the decision, given the potential political implications.

Charge him before the elections and the inevitable accusations of politicking will arise; wait till after the elections and potentially lose the opportunity to disqualify the Donald from running in 2024.

DOJ will not indict Trump before the mid-term election for the reason that you have stated and in part is a department policy. It actually play to the Dems advantage to have Trump raving and ranting and put him in the ballot. Don't think the Dems are worried about Trump running in 2024. He is so beatable now. 

[seajae]

here we see the rusted on dems trying to push a very suspect fbi raid as being up front when there have been "leaks" pushing BS claims(nuclear secrets etc), lies and loads on innuendo along with a staged pic, open lies by the president(there is a document showing he was aware) and those who organized this. How in the hell can anyone trust the fbi after all the lies and BS they used in the russia investigation, the way they deliberately pushed hunters laptop out of the way, the way they are going overboard on joes daughters diary and the way garland has weaponized the justice department against anyone that disagrees with what the dems are pushing, for gods sake they have made parents that protest the way school boards are trying to push education as far left as possible out to be domestic terrorists. Anyone that thinks this is all ok because it is their side of politics doing it has to have a screw loose or be a total idiot, so much for doing the best for their country, dont like trump fine but to allow these idiots to destroy what the US has stood for just to satisfy their political leanings shows just how demented the left really are, all this does is allow an independant person ensure that anything seized is allowable, it does not take away anything that is legal

[placeholder]

13 minutes ago, seajae said:

here we see the rusted on dems trying to push a very suspect fbi raid as being up front when there have been "leaks" pushing BS claims(nuclear secrets etc), lies and loads on innuendo along with a staged pic, open lies by the president(there is a document showing he was aware) and those who organized this. How in the hell can anyone trust the fbi after all the lies and BS they used in the russia investigation, the way they deliberately pushed hunters laptop out of the way, the way they are going overboard on joes daughters diary and the way garland has weaponized the justice department against anyone that disagrees with what the dems are pushing, for gods sake they have made parents that protest the way school boards are trying to push education as far left as possible out to be domestic terrorists. Anyone that thinks this is all ok because it is their side of politics doing it has to have a screw loose or be a total idiot, so much for doing the best for their country, dont like trump fine but to allow these idiots to destroy what the US has stood for just to satisfy their political leanings shows just how demented the left really are, all this does is allow an independant person ensure that anything seized is allowable, it does not take away anything that is legal

Not going to address your comments that are irrelevant to this topic. But the reason the FBI carted away personal stuff as well as government stuff is simple: they wanted to document how carelessly Trump treated this documents. Part of that is to show how he intermingled personal items with classified information.

[herfiehandbag]

2 hours ago, Scott said:

A former president can exercise privilege over the release of documents. 

 

Before releasing any records of a former President, the Archivist of the United States must notify both the incumbent President and the former President of any records which the Archivist believes may be subject to a claim of Executive privilege. Each President then has 30 days to submit the claim in writing to the Archivist.

Incumbent President

The incumbent President consults with the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. If the President chooses to submit a claim of Executive privilege, the Archivist will not release the privileged records unless directed to do so by an incumbent President or by a final court order.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12667

Which is not quite the same as the outgoing president stuffing documents into boxes and taking them home with him when he leaves the White House.

[placeholder]

Here's another takeaway from the special master ruling from none other than Donald Trump himself:

 

Trump responded to being granted a special master by one of his appointees by demanding that the 2020 election results be changed so that he can return to the White House.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Now that the FBI and DOJ have been caught in a massive and determinative Election Rigging Scam, are they going to change the results of the 2020 Presidential Election? They should!!!”

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/09/05/trump-labor-day-overthrow-government.html

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I suspect that if they delay too long, once the GOP takes the house back in November, the "inquiry" will quietly fade away.

I don't envy whoever has to make the decision, given the potential political implications.

Charge him before the elections and the inevitable accusations of politicking will arise; wait till after the elections and potentially lose the opportunity to disqualify the Donald from running in 2024.

Oh so that’s the ‘political interference in Justice’ you’ve been banging on about.

 

Its your hope for the future.

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, seajae said:

here we see the rusted on dems trying to push a very suspect fbi raid as being up front when there have been "leaks" pushing BS claims(nuclear secrets etc), lies and loads on innuendo along with a staged pic, open lies by the president(there is a document showing he was aware) and those who organized this. How in the hell can anyone trust the fbi after all the lies and BS they used in the russia investigation, the way they deliberately pushed hunters laptop out of the way, the way they are going overboard on joes daughters diary and the way garland has weaponized the justice department against anyone that disagrees with what the dems are pushing, for gods sake they have made parents that protest the way school boards are trying to push education as far left as possible out to be domestic terrorists. Anyone that thinks this is all ok because it is their side of politics doing it has to have a screw loose or be a total idiot, so much for doing the best for their country, dont like trump fine but to allow these idiots to destroy what the US has stood for just to satisfy their political leanings shows just how demented the left really are, all this does is allow an independant person ensure that anything seized is allowable, it does not take away anything that is legal

It was Trump who went to court requesting details of the case be revealed.

 

He got what he asked for.

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, placeholder said:

What you don't seem to understand is that all this began with Trump's refusal to return documents that he had no business having including classified documents. All he had to do was return the documents when asked and this would have been over. Instead, he actually refused to comply with a Grand Jury subpoena. He claimed that he was cooperating with NARA  but this turned out to be false. His attorneys clearly lied about the absence of all classified documents still in Trump's possession. 

If this turns into a criminal investigation, as seems likely, it will be entirely Trump's fault. Unless you believe that an ex-President is above the law.

It’s a bit of a conundrum as to why Trump did not simply return the documents.

 

But then we learn about ‘empty folders’, which raises the question, had he already ‘disposed’ of those documents by the time he was asked to return them?

 

He’s clearly got a lot of explaining to do.

[placeholder]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

It’s a bit of a conundrum as to why Trump did not simply return the documents.

 

But then we learn about ‘empty folders’, which raises the question, had he already ‘disposed’ of those documents by the time he was asked to return them?

 

He’s clearly got a lot of explaining to do.

Again, I believe it's just because he's infantile and this was his way of showing his resentment.

It's also clear from people who know him that he has a hard time understanding that just because he wants to do a particular thing, that doesn't mean he can do it.

[candide]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Excellent news.

Hopefully that will stop any leaks happening.

I don't think it will stop Trump.

Edited September 6, 2022 by candide

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Excellent news.

Hopefully that will stop any leaks happening.

What leaks?

 

AG Garland is running a tight ship.

 

Nobody even saw a search of a former President’s home coming, until Trump himself broadcast the fact on his failing ‘Truth Social’ soapbox.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, seajae said:

here we see the rusted on dems trying to push a very suspect fbi raid as being up front when there have been "leaks" pushing BS claims(nuclear secrets etc), lies and loads on innuendo along with a staged pic, open lies by the president(there is a document showing he was aware) and those who organized this. How in the hell can anyone trust the fbi after all the lies and BS they used in the russia investigation, the way they deliberately pushed hunters laptop out of the way, the way they are going overboard on joes daughters diary and the way garland has weaponized the justice department against anyone that disagrees with what the dems are pushing, for gods sake they have made parents that protest the way school boards are trying to push education as far left as possible out to be domestic terrorists. Anyone that thinks this is all ok because it is their side of politics doing it has to have a screw loose or be a total idiot, so much for doing the best for their country, dont like trump fine but to allow these idiots to destroy what the US has stood for just to satisfy their political leanings shows just how demented the left really are, all this does is allow an independant person ensure that anything seized is allowable, it does not take away anything that is legal

Well said.