Legal Charges Against Trump

**S Landreth** · 02-09-2022, 03:33 AM

Judge withholds ruling on special master in Trump, DOJ battle

A federal judge on Thursday declined to issue an immediate decision in a case brought by former President Trump whose attorneys asked the court to appoint a third party legal expert to review evidence seized by the FBI when they searched his Florida home.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said she will issue a ruling at some point on whether to appoint a so-called special master to review the evidence and temporarily block the Justice Department’s investigation into the mishandling of classified records due to their storage at Mar-a-Lago. She did not specify a timeline for when she might issue that decision.

Cannon last Saturday wrote that it was her “preliminary intent” to appoint a special master, but that was before each side made its case during Thursday’s hearing.

The Miami Herald reported that during Thursday’s hearing, it was revealed that more than 300 classified documents had been obtained by federal authorities since Trump left office. Those documents were either turned over by Trump or seized during the search at Mar-a-Lago, the news outlet reported.

The hearing came after the Justice Department filed a lengthy brief asking the court to reject Trump’s request, arguing investigators not assigned to the case have already reviewed the evidence to scan for personal property as well as any materials that might be covered by attorney-client privilege.

Trump’s legal team has argued that a special master would help shield the government from obtaining any information that should not have been swept up in the search. But they’ve also argued Trump had a right to retain presidential records due to executive privilege.

The government has flatly rejected that argument, noting that presidential records are property of the government and must be managed by the National Archives.

The department has also expressed concerns that the appointment could delay the investigation, in part because a special master probably would need to obtain a security clearance to review the records and special authorization from intelligence agencies.

From the Miami Herald link above: Cannon, who was nominated as a federal judge by Trump, said Thursday that, rather than rule from the bench, she would issue a written order. She did not give a time frame for when she would make her decision.

Little more: Judge Doesn't Immediately Rule on Trump-Special Master Issue

Judge considers temporary limit on DOJ access to Trump documents

**Topper** · 02-09-2022, 10:29 PM

The list of shite that the former president stole has been released....

The Stuff Trump Took

**S Landreth** · 03-09-2022, 01:49 AM

^took and some misplaced

Unsealed Mar-a-Lago inventory details items recovered from Trump’s office

Justice Department records unsealed on Friday offer new details about the volume of documents former President Trump stored in his personal office at Mar-a-Lago, as well as other items seized during the search of his Florida home.

The filing underscores just how many presidential records Trump was storing at his home and offers a breakdown of the more than 100 classified documents the Department of Justice (DOJ) says it recovered from Mar-a-Lago.

FBI agents found 43 empty folders with classified banners in Trump’s personal office as well as another 28 empty folders that were labeled “return to staff secretary/military aide,” according to the inventory.

The records were unsealed Friday by order of a federal judge who is reviewing a request from Trump to appoint a third-party special master to review the evidence seized, including a motion to block the FBI’s investigation during that review.

The inventory offers few new details about the classified materials themselves stored at Mar-a-Lago, but it does shed light on the extent classified materials were intermixed with Trump’s personal belongings.

A brief filed by the government just before midnight Tuesday indicated they found three classified records within Trump’s very own desk.

But the Friday inventory details in broad strokes the others that were found within his office: three documents marked confidential, 17 documents marked secret and seven documents marked top-secret.

Their location in Trump’s office could be significant to the Justice Department’s investigation, particularly after it alleged earlier this week that items were “likely concealed and removed.”

Storage in Trump’s personal office, rather than the storage room at Mar-a-Lago, could undercut potential claims that staff were unaware of the extent classified materials were stored on the property.

Earlier review of items seized indicates some of the items recovered were stored alongside Trump’s passports.

In a filing accompanying the latest inventory, the Justice Department noted that “all evidence — including the nature and manner in which they were stored” — will inform their investigation.

An FBI affidavit the DOJ used to request the warrant that allowed for the search indicated the storage of such documents at Mar-a-Lago could constitute a violation of the Espionage Act.

And the Tuesday filing from DOJ also expanded on the government’s rationale for including an obstruction statute on its warrant, breaking down numerous efforts to recover documents and indicating Trump’s team failed to turn over some documents even after receiving a subpoena.

The filing also breaks down the staggering number of government documents Trump was storing at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump retained nearly 10,000 of what the Justice Department calls “US government documents/photographs without classification markings.”

Of those, 1,463 records were kept in Trump’s office with another 8,141 kept in the storage room at Mar-a-Lago.

Though the documents weren’t classified, it’s another important detail in the case. While DOJ’s investigation has primarily been focused on the tranche of classified records in Trump’s home, they’ve also duked it out with Trump’s team over what they say are presidential records that must be returned.

Part of Trump’s argument for a special master is that documents taken from his home could be protected by attorney-client as well as executive privileges.

But DOJ said Trump may have violated the Presidential Records Act by keeping presidential records that former executives have always turned over to the National Archives.

The Justice Department said Tuesday that Trump’s claim that some of the materials may be covered by executive privilege only strengthen their case that he improperly took records that are government property and should be managed by Archives.

“Any Presidential records seized pursuant to the search warrant belong to the United States, not to the former President,” DOJ wrote.

“Plaintiff’s Motion, in fact, asserts that ‘the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022 . . . were created during his term as President.’ These are precisely the types of documents that likely constitute Presidential records.”

inventory list: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documen...-inventory.pdf

____________

Extra

Barr defends DOJ in Trump investigation: ‘They probably have pretty good evidence’

Former Attorney General William Barr suggested the Department of Justice (DOJ) likely has a strong case that former President Trump improperly took classified documents from the White House when he left office amid an ongoing investigation into the matter.

**Cujo** · 03-09-2022, 06:37 AM

Originally Posted by Topper

The list of shite that the former president stole has been released....

The Stuff Trump Took

A lot of EMPTY folders marked classified.

**panama hat** · 03-09-2022, 07:37 AM

Let's just close our eyes and replace the name Trump with Joao Figueroas, Salvador Balledes, Mandouga, N'Doubila, Somchai Papatnapong, Fan Ling Pin . . . we'd be laughing about the banana republic-like goings-on.

This is at that level

**harrybarracuda** · 03-09-2022, 11:38 AM

Legal Charges Against Trump-wu220902-gif

**Topper** · 03-09-2022, 09:27 PM

Here's what happens to a regular person who messed up with classified info....

A former civilian employee of the Defense Department was sentenced Thursday to three months in prison after admitting to taking materials containing classified information to her hotel room and to her personal residence. The ex-employee's sentencing coincidentally came the same week of revelations that the National Archives had raised concerns about government documents found at the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump in recent months. The Archives asked the Justice Department to investigate the matter, prompting questions of whether the handling of classified information and government documents could lead to a criminal probe.

The declassification authorities Trump held as president could limit his criminal liability and questions remain whether he had declassified any of the documents that had been found at Mar-a-Lago.

The ex-Defense Department employee sentenced Thursday, Asia Janay Lavarello, was on a temporary assignment at the US Embassy in Manilla when she took classified documents from the embassy to her hotel room, according to court filings. She hosted a dinner party at her hotel on the day she removed the documents, March 20, 2020, and an embassy co-worker in attendance found the documents, which had classified markings on them, according to the court filings.

Lavarello was working on a classified thesis at the time, her lawyer Birney Bervar told CNN. She had been encouraged to pursue the thesis and been working on it at the embassy's secure information facility until Covid-19 shut things down earlier that year, her lawyer said. The documents she took home were three other classified theses, her lawyer told CNN, and she had no intention of transmitting the classified information or of harming the United States.

Lavarello was confronted about the documents that night, according to her plea agreement, but she did not take steps that night to return them to the embassy's secure information facility. With the help of one of the dinner party guests, she returned the documents to a safe in the embassy two days later, the court filings said, but she did not return the documents to the secure information facility as she had said at the time that she would do.

She was terminated from her temporary assignment that month because of her mishandling of the documents. In her plea agreement, Lavarello also admitted to transporting from the Philippines to Hawaii later that month a notebook containing classified information. The notebook were handwritten notes from a meeting that were later classified, her lawyer told CNN. According to the court documents, she kept that notebook at her residence, which was not an authorized location for storing classified information. The notebook was later found at her workspace in Honolulu after a search warrant was executed, according to the court filings.

Some of the information in the notebook had been previously sent from her personal email to an unclassified work email account in January 16 2020, leading the FBI to determine she possessed the notebook at an unauthorized location at that time.

Lavarello pleaded guilty last July to [URL="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1924"] unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. She was sentenced on Thursday to three months in prison and a $5,500 fine, according to a Justice Department press release.

3 months for 3 classified theses. Based on that ratio, the former president will be gone a long time, if he's held to the same standard as an average citizen.

**S Landreth** · 04-09-2022, 01:26 PM

Scrutiny builds over FBI’s discovery of empty folders at Mar-a-Lago

Among the material allegedly seized from former President Trump’s home were numerous empty folders that once contained classified information or intel designated to be returned to the military, renewing questions over fallout from the potential mishandling of records and if they have since been recovered.

In an inventory from the Justice Department unsealed by a judge Friday, the government detailed that interspersed with Trump’s personal belongings were 48 empty folders with classified banners as well as another 42 empty folders that were labeled “return to staff secretary/military aide,” according to the filing.

The majority were found in Trump’s office, rather than the storage room at Mar-a-Lago.

It’s not clear if the materials the folders once housed are elsewhere in the boxes of recovered evidence, but experts say the suite of questions the detail raises argues in favor of allowing the Justice Department to continue its investigation, even as Trump seeks to stall its progress.

“The ideal scenario that would describe this is that the empty folders are actually for the records that are somewhere else in the boxes — that someone just didn’t keep them in the folder in the way they were supposed to, so they’re not actually out there in the wild somewhere,” said Kel McClanahan, executive director of National Security Counselors, a nonprofit law firm specializing in national security law.

“The least optimistic scenario is that they are nowhere to be found because they are already with someone else.”

The inventory list was given to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon shortly before she heard arguments from Trump’s legal team asking to stall the FBI investigation so that a third-party special master could review the evidence to protect what they claim could be privileged material. The DOJ has argued such a move is unnecessary as its own team of staff not assigned to the case has already reviewed the evidence for privileged material.

Beyond the empty folders, the Friday inventory details in broad strokes the other types of documents that were found within Trump’s office among the tranche of more than 100 recovered classified records: three documents marked confidential, 17 documents marked secret and seven documents marked top-secret.

Larry Pfeiffer, who previously served as senior director of the White House Situation Room and was chief of staff at the CIA, said the system for tracking classified documents should allow investigators to account for what information should be in the folders and determine if it is still on site.

But he expressed concern that the fact that they even ended up at Mar-a-Lago could mean proper record-keeping — even with career national security staffers on hand at the White House — may not have been taken seriously.

“To me, it sounds like there was either a horrific systemic breakdown in those processes, No. 1., or those people just felt completely intimidated by Trump and the people around him. Or there were people who were completely operating around the system — that documents were flowing in and out of the Oval and up into the residence without ever going through this tracking process,” Pfeiffer told The Hill.

“I think it’s possible it was a mistake. I think it’s possible they were folders that were holding the documents that were already found. But I worry it could have been folders that had other documents in them and now the mystery is where are the other documents? And that’s the scary part.”

That includes the materials that expressly directed they be returned to the military.

“Anything that was in the folder should have been returned. The folder being there suggests it wasn’t,” Pfeiffer said.

Little more to the article. Good read

_____________

Some older news I never got around to posting but this might be a good time.

Intel officials will assess ‘risk to national security’ from documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said her office will lead a damage assessment of the documents that were removed from former President Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago home, in a letter to congressional lawmakers, obtained by NBC News Saturday.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or DNI, which oversees the CIA, the National Security Agency and 16 other agencies, will “lead an Intelligence Community assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents,” Haines wrote in the letter, dated Friday.

The DNI and Department of Justice are "working together to facilitate a classification review of relevant materials, including those recovered during the search," Haines wrote, adding that both teams will coordinate closely to ensure the assessment doesn’t interfere with the Justice Department's ongoing criminal investigation.

The letter was addressed to House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and House Oversight Committee chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who had both asked for a security damage assessment days after the FBI searched Trump's Florida club on Aug. 8. The Senate intelligence committee has also asked for a damage assessment as well as further details about the substances of the documents but is yet to receive any details.

“I suspect that the Biden administration is being super careful right now not to appear to be involved beyond the independent FBI and Justice Department,” a former senior intelligence official told NBC News earlier this month.

In a statement Saturday, a spokesperson from Haines’ office said the “assessment we are leading is consistent with the bipartisan request” from the Senate intelligence committee.

A redacted copy of the FBI affidavit used to justify the search, unsealed Friday, said that agents had conducted a preliminary review in mid-May of the contents of 15 boxes of documents that Trump returned to the National Archives from his Florida property in January, and “identified documents with classification markings in fourteen of the FIFTEEN BOXES.”

Agents found 184 unique documents that had classification markings, the affidavit said, with 25 documents marked as “TOP SECRET,” 67 documents marked as “confidential” and 92 marked “secret.”

Agents removed 11 additional sets of classified documents, including some labeled secret and top secret, during the Mar-a-Lago search, according to the property receipt of items that were recovered. There were also papers described as “SCI” documents, which stands for highly classified “sensitive compartmented information.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart approved the warrant that allowed federal agents to search Trump’s Florida property after determining that the affidavit provided probable cause. He ruled Thursday that the document could be unsealed after the Justice Department submitted proposed redactions.

In a joint statement Saturday, Maloney and Schiff said, “We are pleased that in response to our inquiry, Director Haines has confirmed that the Intelligence Community and Department of Justice are assessing the damage caused by the improper storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago."

The redacted affidavit, they said, "affirms our grave concern that among the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago were those that could endanger human sources. It is critical that the [intel 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.”

Intel officials to assess national security fallout from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents

**S Landreth** · 05-09-2022, 08:53 AM

DOJ: Trump required to comply with subpoena even if he'd declassified documents

Former President Trump was required to return all documents marked as classified as part of a grand jury subpoena issued in May, regardless of whether the former president believed he'd declassified the documents, the Department of Justice wrote in an Aug. 29 court filing made public Friday.

The big picture: Trump has put forth a number of reasons to justify why troves of documents, including some with "top secret" and "confidential" markings, were at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Trump and his team have claimed he had a "standing order" dictating that documents taken from the Oval Office to his residence were deemed declassified upon their removal, Axios' Shawna Chen writes.
Former national security adviser John Bolton and former Attorney General Bill Barr have both thrown doubt on the claim.
Trump and his team have made public comments alluding to the documents being declassified by Trump but have been careful to not to actually assert the claim in legal proceedings, the Washington Post reported.

What they're saying: As part of the grand jury investigation into Trump's handling of records, the grand jury issued a subpoena on May 11 requesting all documents "bearing classification markings," the court filing stated.

As part of an "exchange of correspondence" in which Trump's team sought a deadline extension to respond to the subpoena, they asked the Justice Department to "consider a few 'principles,' including the claim that a President has absolute authority to declassify documents (although counsel did not actually assert that FPOTUS had done so)," the filing added.
“The government notes that the subpoena sought documents ‘bearing classification markings,’ and therefore a complete response would not turn on whether or not responsive documents had been purportedly declassified,” the Justice Department claimed in the court filing.

Worth noting: Even if Trump had declassified the documents, they still would have needed to go to the National Archives, per Bloomberg.

https://www.axios.com/2022/09/04/doj...ified-document

___________

Just for fun

Trump suggests the Mar-a-Lago documents were bound for his library. But advisers say he's rarely talked about it. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...y-ta-rcna46129

Barb McQuade - For obvious reasons, top-secret documents cannot be displayed in a library.

This is the 6th story he’s used as a defense:

(1) I don’t have any
(2) If only you’d asked
(3) FBI planted them
(4) They’re mine
(5) DECLASSIFIED!
(6) displayed in a library

Kind of a tell that you’re just making it up as you go. https://twitter.com/BarbMcQuade/stat...48381333061633

**S Landreth** · 06-09-2022, 01:35 AM

Judge grants Trump request for special master to review Mar-a-Lago docs

A federal judge on Monday accepted former President Trump's bid for a special master to review evidence seized by the FBI in the search at his Mar-a-Lago residence last month.

Driving the news: Judge Aileen Cannon ruled for a special master to be appointed "to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege," per the filing.

Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, in the order also "temporarily enjoins the government from reviewing and using the seized materials for investigative purposes pending completion of the special master’s review or further Court order."

Between the lines: "This order shall not impede the classification review and/or intelligence assessment," Cannon wrote.

The big picture: In a filing last week, Trump's legal team accused the Department of Justice of "criminalizing" his possession of presidential records.

"Left unchecked, the DOJ will impugn, leak, and publicize selective aspects of their investigation with no recourse for [Trump] but to somehow trust the self-restraint of currently unchecked investigators," per the court filing.

The DOJ has opposed Trump's request for the third-party attorney, citing "national security interests."

The DOJ also rebuked Trump's claims that the documents are shielded by attorney-client and executive privileges. The Justice Department has argued that the records belong to the government, not Trump.

What to watch: Cannon gave the DOJ and Trump's legal team until Sept. 9 to submit a filing that includes a list of proposed special master candidates.

https://www.axios.com/2022/09/05/tru...ter-fbi-ruling - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documen...ster-order.pdf

**harrybarracuda** · 06-09-2022, 11:09 AM

"That KFC menu is mine!"

"Yes, but you wrote the nuclear codes on it, you fat orange wanker".

**David48atTD** · 06-09-2022, 06:18 PM

James Trusty, a lawyer for Mr Trump, compared the former president keeping classified documents to hanging on to an "overdue library book".

**harrybarracuda** · 06-09-2022, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by David48atTD

James Trusty, a lawyer for Mr Trump, compared the former president keeping classified documents to hanging on to an "overdue library book".

Yes, if you borrowed "Top Secret Nuclear Launch Codes by P. Entagon" from the non-fiction section.

**S Landreth** · 07-09-2022, 06:53 AM

Trump Lawyers Missed Deadline in Clinton RICO Case

Judge Reminds Donald Trump’s Attorneys of Missed Deadline for Claims Involving Adam Schiff and Rod Rosenstein in Hillary Clinton RICO Lawsuit

A federal judge on Friday reminded Donald Trump’s lawyers that they missed an important filing deadline regarding government efforts to dismiss itself as a substitute defendant for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif. 28) and former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in RICO civil lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and a number of the ex-president’s perceived political foes.

Accordingly, U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks took matters into his own hands by giving Trump’s lawyers one more chance to keep their case alive against the U.S. government as a substituted party for the congressman and the ex-Department of Justice official.

“THIS CAUSE comes before the Court sua sponte,” Middlebrooks wrote in a two-page order on Friday. “On August 18, 2022, the United States filed a Motion to Substitute and Dismiss as to Defendants Adam Schiff and Rod Rosenstein. That same date, I granted the United States’ motion in part, and entered an Order substituting the United States as Defendant for Mr. Schiff and Mr. Rosenstein. In the same Order, I expressly deferred ruling on the United States’ dismissal arguments.”

Middlebrooks noted that he was waiting for a response on that final issue but that none was forthcoming by the ordered deadline:

Plaintiff’s response to the United States’ motion was due on September 1, 2022. The record does not reflect that Plaintiff has filed a response, nor has Plaintiff moved for an extension of time to do so. In the interest of rendering a fully informed ruling on the issues raised in the United States’ motion, I will accept a late-filed substantive response, if Plaintiff chooses to submit one. To this end, I will extend the filing deadline to September 6, 2022.

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documen...4-9-2-2022.pdf

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Just for fun.

Hillary Clinton - I can’t believe we’re still talking about this, but my emails…

As Trump’s problems continue to mount, the right is trying to make this about me again. There’s even a “Clinton Standard."

The fact is that I had zero emails that were classified. https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/s...64268172173315

**S Landreth** · 07-09-2022, 07:43 AM

WaPo: Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

Some seized documents were so closely held, only the president, a Cabinet-level or near-Cabinet level official could authorize others to know

“A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.

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. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special access programs, according to people familiar with the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation.”

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/s...00631836205057

The revelation severely undercuts Mr Trump’s defence that the documents are harmless or meant for a future presidential library or other projects.

__________

Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.

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. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special access programs, according to people familiar with the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation.

Documents about such highly classified operations require special clearances on a need-to-know basis, not just top-secret clearance. Some special-access programs can have as few as a couple dozen government personnel authorized to know of an operation’s existence. Records that deal with such programs are kept under lock and key, almost always in a secure compartmented information facility, with a designated control officer to keep careful tabs on their location.

But such documents were stored at Mar-a-Lago, with uncertain security, more than 18 months after Trump left the White House.

After months of trying, according to government court filings, the FBI has recovered more than 300 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago this year: 184 in a set of 15 boxes sent to the National Archives and Records Administration in January, 38 more handed over by a Trump lawyer to investigators in June, and more than 100 additional documents unearthed in a court-approved search on Aug. 8.

It was in this last batch of government secrets, the people familiar with the matter said, that the information about a foreign government’s nuclear-defense readiness was found. These people did not identify the foreign government in question, say where at Mar-a-Lago the document was found or offer additional details about one of the Justice Department’s most sensitive national security investigations.
A Trump spokesman did not immediately comment. Spokespeople for the Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is conducting a risk assessment, to determine how much potential harm was posed by the removal from government custody of hundreds of classified documents.

The Washington Post previously reported that FBI agents who searched Trump’s home were looking, in part, for any classified documents relating to nuclear weapons. After that story published, Trump compared it on social media to a host of previous government investigations into his conduct. “Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more. Same sleazy people involved,” he wrote, going on to suggest that FBI agents might have planted evidence against him.

A grand jury subpoena issued May 11 demanded the return of “all documents or writings in the custody or control of Donald J. Trump and/or the Office of Donald J. Trump bearing classification markings,” including “Top Secret,” and the lesser categories of “Secret” and “Confidential.”

The subpoena, issued to Trump’s custodian of records, then listed more than two dozen sub-classifications of documents, including “S/FRD,” an acronym for “Formerly Restricted Data,” which is reserved for information that relates primarily to the military use of nuclear weapons. Despite the “formerly” in the title, the term does not mean the information is no longer classified.

One person familiar with the Mar-a-Lago search said the goal of the comprehensive list was to ensure recovery of all classified records on the property, and not just those that investigators had reason to believe might be there.

Investigators grew alarmed, according to one person familiar with the search, as they began to review documents retrieved from the club’s storage closet, Trump’s residence and his office in August. The team soon came upon records that are extremely restricted, so much so that even some of the senior-most national security officials in the Biden administration weren’t authorized to review them. One government filing alluded to this information when it noted that counterintelligence FBI agents and prosecutors investigating the Mar-a-Lago documents were not authorized at first to review some of the material seized.

Among the 100-plus classified documents taken in August, some were marked “HCS,” a category of highly classified government information that refers to “HUMINT Control Systems,” which are systems used to protect intelligence gathered from secret human sources, according to a court filing. A partially unsealed affidavit said documents found in the boxes that were sent to the National Archives in January related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. There was also material that was never meant to be shared with foreign nations.

The investigation into possible mishandling of classified information, as well as possible hiding, tampering or destruction of government records, grew even more complex Monday when a federal judge in Florida granted Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review the material seized in the Aug. 8 search and weed out documents that may be covered by executive privilege — a legal standard that, as applied to former presidents, is poorly defined.

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled the special master also will sift through all of the nearly 13,000 documents and items the FBI took to identify any that might be protected by attorney-client privilege, even though Justice Department lawyers have said a “filter” team has already completed that task.

Cannon’s ruling could slow down and complicate the government’s criminal probe, particularly if the Justice Department decides to appeal over the unsettled and tricky questions of what executive privilege a former president may have. The judge ruled that investigators cannot “use” the seized material in their investigation until the special master concludes his or her examination.

A special master has yet to be appointed; Cannon has asked Trump and the Justice Department to agree on a list of qualified candidates by Friday. Legal experts noted that the Justice Department can still interview witnesses, use other evidence and present information to a grand jury while the special master examines the seized material.

In her order, Cannon said the appointment of a special master was necessary “to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances presented.”

She also reasoned that a special master could mitigate potential harm to Trump “by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public,” suggesting that knowledge or details of the case were harmful to the former president, and could be lessened by inserting a special master into the document-review process.

“As a function of Plaintiff’s former position as President of the United States, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own,” Cannon wrote. “A future indictment, based to any degree on property that ought to be returned, would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude.”

While the FBI search has drawn strong condemnation from Trump and his Republican allies, who accuse the Justice Department of acting with political malice against a past president who may seek the office again in 2024, some Republicans have said the action might have been necessary.

In an interview that aired Friday, former Trump attorney general William P. Barr said there is no reason classified documents should have been at Mar-a-Lago after Trump was out of office.

“People say this was unprecedented,” Barr told Fox News. “But it’s also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put them in a country club, okay?”

WaPo no paywall site. https://archive.ph/2022.09.06-235953/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/06/trump-nuclear-documents/#selection-1055.0-1127.125

**S Landreth** · 08-09-2022, 07:14 PM

DOJ has until Friday

What others are saying about the ruling, which will not save trump.

DOJ Considers Whether to Appeal Judge's Special Master Order

Experts Pan Ruling Appointing Special Master for Mar-a-Lago Docs as ‘Far Out of the Mainstream,’ But View Possible DOJ Appeal as Risky

Appealing a federal judge’s order appointing a special master to review thousands of files seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence could spell delays and an uncertain outcome.

“I’m sure [the DOJ is] puzzling over it now,” noted CNN legal analyst Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.

“They obviously made clear to the judge that they wanted her to craft an order in such a way that it would allow them to appeal,” Rodgers continued. “So what they’re gonna have to think about is: What is the makeup of the 11th Circuit? What’s the likelihood that they’re gonna get a ruling that they like or not? How much damage does this actually do to their case?”

Trump appointed six judges to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, a conservative jurisdiction that’s the first destination for any appeal. Rodgers predicted the actual fallout of the ruling on the government’s investigation would be limited.

So did attorney Bradley Moss, a prominent national security lawyer.

“If you’re the DOJ in this circumstance, you have to take into consideration the possibility that this ruling will be essentially a one-off — that no other criminal suspects will ever warrant the particular consideration and factual analysis that applies here to a former president,” Moss told Law&Crime. “And so you have to take into consideration: Is it worth it to spend the time and effort and the delay to potentially get this overturned, recognizing that nothing’s guaranteed, or do you plow ahead with the special master, confident that you’ve got the law on your side at that stage — and secure enough in the idea that whatever damage comes from this ruling going forward, it’ll be minimal, if anything.”

Rodgers opined that the ruling was “wrong” on the law — and lends “unfortunate” credence to Trump’s broadsides against the government “without any basis for that whatsoever.” Still, she believed that the ruling would have limited fallout for the government’s probe.

“I just think at the end of the day, outside of maybe four or five weeks of delay, I don’t think it’s a huge impediment to DOJ investigation,” she said in a phone interview.

For now, the Justice Department has not announced whether it will appeal the ruling, telling reporters only that it is reviewing the ruling and considering appropriate next steps. It will need to make a decision quickly: Cannon ordered the parties to provide a list of special master candidates by Friday, Sept. 9.

**David48atTD** · 09-09-2022, 01:20 AM

Trump faces a slew of investigations and lawsuits — and they’re heating up as he weighs White House run

Legal Charges Against Trump-107103162-1660307712527-gettyimages-1242419185-afp_32gb7au-jpg

Key Points

As Donald Trump considers whether to make a third run for the White House, the former president faces a raft of official investigations and civil lawsuits.
The investigations are focused on efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, the removal of White House records to Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago this week and removed about a dozen boxes, a lawyer for Trump said.

Federal criminal investigation into White House records removal

The records probe on Monday vaulted to being potentially the biggest legal threat to Trump, after his stunning revelation that a team of FBI agents was raiding his residence at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Georgia criminal investigation of Trump for interference in state’s 2020 presidential election

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office is presenting evidence and testimony to a special grand jury in Atlanta impaneled to investigate Trump and a number of his allies in connection with their attempts to get officials in Georgia to undo President Joe Biden’s election win there.

Before Monday’s Mar-a-Lago raid by the FBI, some legal observers considered the Fulton County probe to be the most pressing threat of criminal prosecution to Trump. It still may be.

Willis, a Democrat, in particular is eyeing a Jan. 2, 2021, call Trump placed to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
During that conversation, the then-president asked Raffensperger to “find” Trump more than 11,700 votes to reverse his margin of defeat by Biden.

The DA also is investigating contacts Trump allies had with the state’s attorney general, and the top federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Georgia.

Trump faces investigations, lawsuits as he weighs White House run

**S Landreth** · 09-09-2022, 05:17 AM

DOJ appeals special master ruling in Trump documents probe

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday filed a notice of intent to appeal a ruling by a judge granting former President Trump’s request for a special master, asking the judge to partially stay a ruling blocking them from accessing the classified materials seized during a search of his home.

“Without a stay, the government and public also will suffer irreparable harm from the undue delay to the criminal investigation,” the DOJ writes in its filing.

“Any delay poses significant concerns in the context of an investigation into the mishandling of classified records.”

The motion for a partial stay would allow the government to continue its review of the classified records recovered from Trump’s home, removing from review by a yet-to-be-appointed third-party special master some 100 documents of roughly 10,000 taken in the Aug. 8 search.

The appeal itself will continue to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes six Trump appointees on the bench.

The filing digs into District Judge Aileen Cannon’s logic on a number of areas, pointing to many of the same issues in a ruling legal scholars largely panned as troubling.

But the bulk of the argument for a partial stay of her ruling granting a special master relies on the impact her decision could have on national security.

Cannon allowed an intelligence community-led review of the documents to continue so that national security leaders could work to mitigate any fallout from the mishandling of records.

But the DOJ’s brief argues the intelligence community’s damage assessment and its own criminal investigation “are inextricably intertwined.”

“The ongoing Intelligence Community (“IC”) classification review and assessment are closely interconnected with—and cannot be readily separated from—areas of inquiry of DOJ’s and the FBI’s ongoing criminal investigation,” they write, taking pains to note that “the FBI itself is a part of the intelligence community.”

The intelligence community has had access to an earlier tranche of records turned over by Trump since May, after the National Archives recovered 184 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago in January.

“Before the Court’s Order, the same personnel from the FBI involved in the criminal investigation were coordinating appropriately with the IC in its review and assessment,” DOJ wrote, adding that the order “frustrate[s] the government’s ability to conduct an effective national security risk assessment and classification review and could preclude the government from taking necessary remedial steps in light of that review—risking irreparable harm to our national security and intelligence interests.”

DOJ even specifically points to the 48 empty folders with classified banners as well as another 42 empty folders that were labeled “return to staff secretary/military aide” that were recovered during the search of Mar-a-Lago.

It is the FBI, they say, that would typically carry out an investigation into such a matter.

“Within the United States, the FBI would pursue any allegation or lead indicating that the classified records may have been accessed, retained, or disseminated in violation of the law, including by using the tools and authorities of a criminal investigation,” the filing states.

“If, for example, another department or agency in the IC were to obtain intelligence indicating that a classified document in the seized materials might have been compromised, the FBI would be responsible for taking some of the necessary steps to evaluate that risk.”

The filing includes a declaration from Alan Kohler, assistant director for the Counterintelligence Division of the FBI, backing DOJ’s argument and calling the two investigations “inextricably linked.”

DOJ’s filing comes ahead of a Friday deadline to work with Trump’s legal team to propose a list of candidates to serve as the special master responsible for reviewing the documents.

Elsewhere in the motion for a stay, DOJ picks apart the argument that Trump would have any executive privilege claims to classified records.

“The classification markings establish on the face of the documents that they are government records, not Plaintiff’s personal records. The government’s review of those records does not raise any plausible attorney-client privilege claims because such classified records do not contain communications between Plaintiff and his private attorneys. And for several reasons, no potential assertion of executive privilege could justify restricting the Executive Branch’s review and use of the classified records at issue here,” DOJ argued.

“There is no valid purpose to be served by a special master’s review of classified materials.”

DOJ also noted that Trump’s legal team never raised the concept of being able to claim executive privilege over any classified records after Trump’s custodian of records was subpoenaed in May and asked to turn over any remaining documents.

“To the extent that Plaintiff believed that any such records could be subject to a valid assertion of executive privilege, he should have advised the government of such a claim at that time and could have attempted to pursue such a claim through a motion to quash. But despite having several weeks to respond to the subpoena, plaintiff did not do so,” DOJ wrote.

Trump mocked the appeal on his social media platform, saying that DOJ was “going to spend Millions of Dollars, & vast amounts of Time & Energy, to appeal the Order on the ‘Raid of Mar-a-Lago Document Hoax,’ by a brilliant and courageous Judge whose words of wisdom rang true throughout our Nation.”

DOJ’s appeal of the ruling came after many legal experts said they had but little choice to fight the decision, even if additional litigation could also drag out its ability to reinitiate review of classified records in a crucial step for its investigation.

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney, said if the Justice Department’s primary goal is to indict Trump, an appeal could slow that process. But if DOJ decides the main goal is to protect executive privilege and its limitations from the potential precedent set by Cannon’s ruling, then a challenge makes more sense.

“They may need to appeal even if it means adverse impact on this particular case,” she told The Hill prior to DOJ’s filing.

As DOJ officials wrestled with the question of how to proceed, they even got a huge nudge from Bill Barr, Trump’s former attorney general, who came out sharply against Cannon’s ruling and urged the Justice Department to appeal it.

“The opinion, I think, was wrong, and I think the government should appeal it. It’s deeply flawed in a number of ways,” Barr said during an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday.

“Her decision is premature. And the dispute isn’t over whether this document is potentially executive privilege and this one isn’t. That’s not the dispute. The dispute is whether the president – even if it is executive privilege – can the president bar DOJ from reviewing the documents? And the answer to that I think is clearly no.”

Whatever the outcome of the DOJ’s challenge, some legal experts said the delay brought about by Cannon’s decision is already benefiting the former president.

“Delay is sweet for a prospective criminal defendant, especially a prospective criminal defendant who doesn’t seem to have any defense,” Jeff Robbins, a former federal prosecutor and congressional investigative counsel, told The Hill.

___________

https://storage.courtlistener.com/re...763.68.0_2.pdf

**S Landreth** · 09-09-2022, 06:25 AM

Little more.......

As with previous filings, the notice of appeal bore the signatures of two top Justice Department officials: U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez and senior DOJ attorney Jay Bratt, the chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of National Security Division.

Shortly after submitting the notice, the Justice Department filed a motion for a stay signaling a broad attack on the ruling by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee.

**panama hat** · 09-09-2022, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by David48atTD

James Trusty, a lawyer for Mr Trump, compared the former president keeping classified documents to hanging on to an "overdue library book".

This is simply to make it look reasonable to Trumps MAGA-fuckwits

**S Landreth** · 09-09-2022, 09:35 AM

Little more……

In addition to its appeal, the Justice Department asked US District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee who ordered the special master, to let it continue the review of documents being done for the FBI's criminal probe -- a review the judge put on hold. The prosecutors argued that the criminal probe could not be decoupled from the intelligence community's review.

"The application of the injunction to classified records would thus frustrate the government's ability to conduct an effective national security risk assessment and classification review and could preclude the government from taking necessary remedial steps in light of that review -- risking irreparable harm to our national security and intelligence interests," the DOJ wrote in it's request for a stay.

The Justice Department had vigorously opposed the appointment of a special master, which is a third-party attorney tasked with reviewing evidence and filtering out privileged documents. The department argued to Cannon the independent review wasn't necessary, given the internal DOJ filter practices that had been used in the search.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/re...763.69.0_1.pdf

**Topper** · 09-09-2022, 09:56 PM

This finally happened ......

A federal grand jury in Washington is examining the formation of — and spending by — a fund-raising operation created by Donald J. Trump after his loss in the 2020 election as he was soliciting millions of dollars by baselessly asserting that the results had been marred by widespread voting fraud.

According to subpoenas issued by the grand jury, the contents of which were described to The New York Times, the Justice Department is interested in the inner workings of Save America PAC, Mr. Trump’s main fund-raising vehicle after the election. Several similar subpoenas were sent on Wednesday to junior and midlevel aides who worked in the White House and for Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.

The fact that federal prosecutors are now seeking information about the fund-raising operation is a significant new turn in an already sprawling criminal investigation into the roles that Mr. Trump and some of his allies played in trying to overturn the election, an array of efforts that culminated with the mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The expanded Jan. 6 inquiry is playing out even as Mr. Trump is also under federal investigation on an entirely different front: his decision to hold onto hundreds of government documents marked as classified when he left office and his failure to comply with efforts by the National Archives and the Justice Department to compel their return.

Raising money by telling people lies is called "fraud".

**panama hat** · 10-09-2022, 04:05 AM

^ Yet nothing concrete ever seems to happen . . . it's like sludge

**S Landreth** · 10-09-2022, 04:57 AM

^patience

^^I have the same story but related the to the Jan 6^th committee that I’ll post in the Right-wing domestic terrorists thread.

Until then.

Judge throws out Trump's lawsuit against Hillary Clinton

A U.S. judge has thrown out former President Trump's lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, saying the former president "is seeking to flaunt a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him."

Driving the news: "And this Court is not the appropriate forum," Judge Donald Middlebrooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida wrote.

Middlebrooks said Trump exceeded the legal statute of limitations and that "many of the statements that Plaintiff characterizes as injurious falsehoods qualify as speech plainly protected by the First Amendment."
"At its core, the problem with Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is that Plaintiff is not attempting to seek redress for any legal harm," Middlebrooks wrote.

Catch up quick: Trump in March accused Clinton and dozens of other Democrats in a 108-page lawsuit of working together to accuse him of colluding with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

Trump's suit said Clinton, her campaign, the DNC, former FBI Director James Comey and others "maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative."

What they're saying: "We vehemently disagree with the opinion issued by the court today," Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement.

"Not only is it rife with erroneous applications of the law, but it also disregards the numerous independent governmental investigations which substantiate our claim that the defendants conspired to falsely implicate our client and undermine the 2016 Presidential election."
"We will immediately move to appeal this decision," Habba said.

Top 13 Benchslaps in a Federal Judge’s Dismissal of Donald Trump’s RICO Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton

In Florida (where the case above was heard) we have a law that permits a winning party of a lawsuit to receive reasonable attorneys fees. The defendant has to offer (the plaintiff) a sum of money (typically about 250.00/filing fee) to drop the case before it goes to court. I know, I’ve won a few.

trump will be responsible to pay all the attorney fees for each one of the defendants below.

Alina Habba

**S Landreth** · 10-09-2022, 09:03 AM

Judge allows Manhattan DA case against Trump Org, former CFO to move forward

A judge on Friday ruled the Manhattan district attorney’s case against the Trump Organization and its former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg can go to trial.

New York prosecutors allege Weisselberg avoided paying close to $2 million in taxes over a span of more than a decade by receiving indirect compensation from the business, and had been a part of a scheme to enrich Trump Organization executives and himself without reporting the financial gains.

Prosecutors also allege the Trump business did not report the indirect compensation to the federal government despite keeping track of it.

Lawyers for Weisselberg and the Trump Organization earlier this year asked for the fraud and conspiracy charges against them to be dismissed. Judge Juan Merchan dropped one count against the Trump Organization and allowed the rest to proceed.

An attorney representing Weisselberg declined to comment. The Hill has reached out to the Trump Organization and an attorney representing the business for comment.

Both parties have pleaded not guilty.

Trump also remains embroiled in a number of other legal matters, including an FBI search of his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence. The Wall Street Journal reported that officials were looking for classified documents pertaining to nuclear weapons.

Jury selection in the case is scheduled to start Oct. 24.

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