↓
 
Home » Special master appointed: Horses escape, judge shuts barn door

Special master appointed: Horses escape, judge shuts barn door

The New Neo Posted on by

In my opinion, this ruling comes way too late. The DOJ has had plenty of time to go through the documents and other seized items, if they had enough people working on it – and I am pretty sure they threw enormous numbers into the effort, because that’s how determined they are to get Trump for something:

Federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon has granted Donald Trump’s Motion for Judicial Oversight of the FBI/DOJ handling of records and other things seized during the Mar-a-Lago Raid.

The Order entered today provides, in relevant part (emphasis added):

“Pursuant to the Court’s equitable jurisdiction and inherent supervisory authority, and mindful of the need to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances presented, Plaintiff’s Motion [ECF No. 1] is GRANTED IN PART. The Court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorneyclient and/or executive privilege. Furthermore, in natural conjunction with that appointment, and consistent with the value and sequence of special master procedures, the Court 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.”

Much more at the link.

I’m assuming the DOJ will appeal.

Comments

Special master appointed: Horses escape, judge shuts barn door — 36 Comments

  1. The DOJ has their man, now all they have to do is find the crime. With over 4000 Federal felonies that should be easy. In his book “Three Felonies a Day”, Mr. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws make it easy to charge somebody with a crime and how prosecutors can pin federal crimes on any one of us.

  2. What I’m really wondering, is what if at some point, Trump’s lawyers are allowed to look at the files the FBI has, or get a detailed listing, and say “There are things missing.” Like files on Crossfire Hurricane, Jan 6, etm.

    Documents showing that the FBI and/or other Fed agencies were doing stuff they shouldn’t have been doing, that Trump had declassified, and that the FBI wanted back.

    What then?

  3. I share Dave L’s concern, above. The FBI has most certainly gone through all the documents they seized, and most likely photocopied all those they think might have to be given back pursuant to a court order. But the documents they have that reflect on Crossfire Hurricane, or Hunter Biden, will just disappear. The Special Master will not see them, and Trump will never get them back if the court orders them returned. They have just ceased to exist.

    It’s the lawless times we live in, when the FBI and DOJ are the biggest lawbreakers around.

  5. That last highlighted bit…Yeah sure. If you believe they’re going to stop investigating I have riverfront property in the Tanami I’d like to sell you.

    It’s lawfare as prelude to warfare.

  6. It might preclude the use of any materials in legal actions until the Special Master has been through them.

  7. I figured by midnight of the Mar-A-Lago raid the Feds had everything photographed and copied

    –Skip

    Then digitized, OCRed and cross-linked to every Fed database.

  8. @ Dave L & others:
    I admit that I hadn’t thought of that angle, being more concerned about them planting “evidence” in the files for some malevolent purpose. I still think it will be impossible for them to ever prove they didn’t introduce any “incriminating” papers they will claim they found.

    BUT
    How would President Trump prove that the FBI absconded with sensitive files?
    Does someone on his team have a list? How would he prove they didn’t make it up later?

    Also, it couldn’t be done without the Left saying he was “admitting he had classified information on the premises,” since they have never accepted his claims of legal declassification of anything he kept.

    That the FBI didn’t follow any rational procedures for securing the provenance of whatever they took is insane IF they really had any intention of building a solid LEGAL case – check out the comments at Prof. Jacobson’s post.

  9. Interesting to look at the list of what was seized. Mostly newsclips, magazines and photos. Also, clothing. Clothing. There also didn’t seem to be any documents noted that would require sci security level — so no nuke secrets. Always good to wait for facts to come together, and so far the facts do not support the official reasons for the raid.

  10. Also, clothing. Clothing.

    –AlanR

    I still say they were hoping, praying to find some leather fetish gear…

    But we would have heard about that by now. Not officially, but leaked to whatever the topline tabloid is these days.

    For instance, the Washington Post.

  11. I wonder whether Trump had the documents bate-stamped. That would put a damper on the removal and creation of “evidence.”
    He strikes me as the type of person who might have the documents bate-stamped in this situation.

  12. Agree with those of you that suspect (expect) that the documents the DOJ sent the FBI to find have been disappeared, never to be seen again.

  13. I didn’t see any digital devices, drives et al in the inventory, so we don’t really know what they took, and what they couldn’t find,

  14. Curious things that haven’t been seen, or dogs that haven’t barked: Carter, Bush, or Obama. Of course nothing to worry about in “their” papers. For now.

  16. Curious things that haven’t been seen, or dogs that haven’t barked: Carter, Bush, or Obama. Of course nothing to worry about in “their” papers. For now.

    AFAICT, the older generation has had FLAT NOTHING to say about the abusive behavior of either Obama’s outfit or Biden’s. If you can find an example of a complaint uttered by Carter, Mondale, Hart, Dukakis, Bush the Elder, Bush the Younger, Cheney, I’d be pleased to know what it was. The obvious time to have stood up and complained was when it was discovered that Lois Lerner and her crew were working to sabotage Tea party organizations, when it was discovered that major Republican donors were receiving IRS audits with curious frequency, and when it was discovered that IRS employees were leaking confidential tax documents to the political enemies of organizations said IRS employees did not like.

    Another set of characters who not only crapped out but actively endorsed corrupt practices have been liberal goo goo groups like Common Cause and the League of Women Voters. They’re frauds who deserve everyone’s contempt.

  17. I am sure that President Trump had this all gamed out and he is just playing for time.

    The safe was empty. I’d bet that the “good stuff” is stashed in a rusty old tackle box on a nearby fishing skiff where it has been for over a year. Trump knows what the “Swamp” is afraid of. And the Swamp knows what is coming. I suspect that at some point, there will be a quiet,”or else” session in a secure location.

    The Biden “Red/Black” speech was probably a panicked counter attack.

    I hope I live long enough to get the play-by-play on this one. Until then, Trump better have good physical security and/or a deadman’s switch on this.

  18. Hope you’re right, Mike.
    The problem is—as the saying goes—“They can indict a ham sandwich, if they want to.”

    (And even if they won’t be able to successfully indict him they can hog-tie him—ONCE AGAIN—and keep him hog-tied for quite a long time….with the colluding Corrupt Mainstream Media playing the role of vociferous, vapid cheerleader 24/7…)
    – – – – – – – –
    “AFAICT, the older generation has had FLAT NOTHING to say about the abusive behavior of either Obama’s outfit or Biden’s….”

    THIS is, in fact, the most chilling aspect of this vicious farce.
    Dershowitz, whether one agrees with him or not, is unafraid when it comes to defending the Constitution and the rule of law, as he understands it.
    The silence of the Old Guard of GOP leaders—and one might assume “decent” Democrats—is deafening, chilling and sinister…
    (Or ought one say, “most disappointing”?…)

  20. I understand that, because they did not wait after the judge indicated that she would appoint a special master, the DOJ prosecution team may now be tainted. If they lose any privilege issues, and the current team has reviewed any of the priveleged material, they could be dq’d and a new prosecution team would have to be brought in.

    My guess is that the DOJ will not lose any privilege issues, but the fact that they have put themselves in this position is bizzare. If you choose to prosecute a former president, and you want the country to accept it, you dot your all i’s and cross all of your t’s. You take a posture makes it clear that you are acting more in sorrow than in anger.

    If you are engaging in a partisan hack job to raise the profile of an unpopular leader on the other side so your candidates can run agaist him in November instead of running on your record, you act the way the DOJ is acting now.

  21. An additional thought – the right thing for the DOJ to do would have been to litigate the privilege issues before allowing the prosecution team to see potentially privileged materials, especially after the judge indicated a willingness to appoint the special master, but that would have taken time. Why is the DOJ in such a hurry? Could it have anything to do with November?

    I think the best thing the 11th Circuit could do now is set a briefing schedule for the government’s appeal that begins on November 9th.

  23. “If you choose to prosecute a former president, and you want the country to accept it, you dot your all i’s and cross all of your t’s.”

    Except that they are firmly convinced—ABSOLUTELY convinced—that they can destroy THAT former president AND his followers…NO MATTER WHAT.
    And while they may be blocked, stymied, delayed or put off temporarily, NOTHING ULTIMATELY WILL STAND IN THEIR WAY.
    Putting this another way, “The arc of history bends…” etc…or even another way, “Screw the Law, screw the Constitution, screw the optics. We can do what we want.”)

    IOW, they believe they are invincible.
    (To paraphrase, “The future belongs to [them]”)

    File under: “L’etat c’est moi.” (Or as Powerline blog put it—in an “American” context—“I, the People”….)

  27. I wonder which is the true reason?

    Scenarios I have read:

    1. Fbi / doj raid was to collect documents of their corruption.

    2. Fbi / doj raid was a fishing expedition / desperate action / Hail Mary, since the Jan 6 hearings failed. And with the track record of Russiagate, Mueller they expected to stifle any pushback with “active investigation” and “national security”. And they hope to Get Trump on obstruction of Justice. And a bit of political intimidation by violating his privacy.

    3. Trump deliberately baited the fbi / doj by deliberately not returning documents into the raid.

    4. This is a white hat operation to help Trump. Sure, and I have a bridge to sell you…

    5. This was a legitimate search since no man is above the law. The Bill Barr backed justification.

    6. The raid was done to make the midterms about Trump.

    My vote is for scenario #2

  28. There is reporting as we speak that the FBI agents seized medical records and tax documents.

  29. Donald McClarey, whose secondary line of practice is criminal defense, has offered the opinion that it was a fishing expedition with no particular object. The unconstitutional general warrant Reinhardt signed would be consistent with that thesis.

    There’s been some suggestion that the FBI and the Democrats are playing the angles, figuring that the campaign will go better for the Democratic Party if Trump’s name is in the papers.

  30. Look at the team that directed the operation as paul sperry sketched it out all stroganoff russia gate the nuclear croutons might be about the iran deal

  31. “…with no particular object….”
    I guess that would depend on whether one considers GROSS INTIMIDATION as a “particular object”.

    Taking Mark Judge’s recent post on “My Son Hunter” as a pathfinder…
    https://amgreatness.com/2022/09/05/a-cry-of-defiance-against-the-deep-state/
    …together with Trump’s accusation that “FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid targeted teenage son’s bedroom”…
    https://conservativeinstitute.org/conservative-news/trump-says-fbis-mar-a-lago-raid-targeted-teenage-sons-bedroom.htm

    …might one surmise that the whole point of the “exercise”—which is entirely consistent with ALL OTHER past Democratic-Party-instigated “exercises” (Russiagate, the trial and frame-up of Trump associates, the two impeachments, Nov. 2020, Jan 6, etc.)—goes along the lines of something like this?

    ‘How is it that YOU DO NOT freakin’ understand that WE are allowed to break laws.
    ‘BUT YOU ARE NOT allowed to.
    ‘HOW DIFFICULT IS THAT to understand?
    ‘Got that?
    ‘Good. Let’s continue: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED to bring attention to our SUPPOSED breaking of laws. Don’t even think of it.
    ‘Let’s be a bit more specific: YOU ARE NOT allowed to try to threaten us because we took bribes, because we took kickbacks, because we are empowering AMERICA’s enemies, because we sold out our country, WHICH—get this through your fat, stupid, orange head—WE ARE ALLOWED TO DO… ‘…BECAUSE WE ARE AMERICA, you fathead.
    ‘And even more than that, IF YOU GO AFTER MY SON OR ANY MEMBER OF MY FAMILY, YOU ARE TOAST.
    ‘If you ever—EVER!—GO DOWN THAT ROAD, WE WILL HAND YOU YOUR ASS ON A PLATTER.
    ‘So go ahead, MAKE OUR DAY.
    ‘Sincerely,
    ‘The “Biden” Administration

    File under: “Your Son Brandon”…

  32. Pingback:Links and Comments | Rockport Conservatives

  33. om… Carter’s on record saying POTUS Trump’s election was fraudulent so what’s he going to say differently now? The Bushes hate POTUS Trump’s guts so where do you think their inclination is here? Obama? Hell…Gropey’s running 0’s 3rd term (badly but still). He’s one of the engineers running this show. None of them need to say a word.
    We know. And when SHTF Day comes they’ll know we know.

  34. “…The Bushes hate POTUS Trump’s guts so where do you think their inclination is here?…”

    Their inclination?
    Um, let me take a stab at that…
    “Because the country is going to hell in a handbasket…”??

  36. Oops…
    I see just now that
    ‘File under: “Your Son Brandon”…’
    …is a typo.

    …should have been—
    ‘ File under: “Your Son Barron”…’

    (Getting super sloppy in me’ old age…. Apologies…)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

↑