FBI raids Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

[Rick Plant]

Donald Trump is learning that appointing judges doesn't always guarantee wins

It’s hard to rate which legal news was worse for Trump last week.



Last week brought a relentless deluge of legal news for former President Donald J. Trump. All of it was bad, and some of it came courtesy of judges he or former Republican President Ronald Reagan had appointed.

Judge Raymond J. Dearie, a Reagan appointee who is serving as a special master to review documents the FBI seized during its August search of Trump’s Florida home, has been appropriately skeptical of the Trump team’s legal tactics and demanded Tuesday that Trump’s attorneys back up some of Trump’s claims with evidence. Then, the next day, a three-judge appellate court panel with two Trump appointees rolled back a previous ruling that had wrongly gone Trump’s way.

The above doesn’t even include the lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James filed accusing Trump and the Trump Organization of civil fraud. That civil case threatens to undermine the fairy tale that Trump is a successful businessman worthy of our trust as the leader of the free world. The criminal investigation into how documents the Department of Justice says are sensitive ended up at Trump’s Florida home could threaten the freedom of whoever is implicated. And Americans aren’t wrong to worry about how Trump stacking the judiciary might come into play.

But the rulings related to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago show that there’s something to Chief Justice John Roberts’ statement: “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.” Roberts made that statement in 2018, in response to an angry Trump dismissing a ruling against his administration as having come from an “Obama judge.”

Reader, I can hear you from here. You’re yelling at me that my argument is hogwash (only you won’t use that word) and that all we need to do is look at the Supreme Court to see just how much Republican-appointed federal judges have shaped, often for the worse, our country. Remember, you’re saying, when women had a constitutionally protected right to obtain an abortion? I do remember, and I agree that thanks in part to the three Supreme Court justices Trump appointed that right no longer exists.

But it’s also true that federal judges appointed by Republicans don’t always rule in ways that hand Republican politicians political wins. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Trump and his boosters brought baseless lawsuits throughout the country. They were uniformly rejected by judges of both political stripes.

On Wednesday, at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel, made up of two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee, handed Trump a significant legal setback. The three judges unanimously clapped back at an egregiously wrongheaded opinion written by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who had ruled that the Justice Department had to pause its examination of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. The three appellate judges concluded that, contrary to Cannon’s ruling, the DOJ could continue using the documents marked as classified that were found at Trump’s home and that the special master did not need to review those documents.

Trump’s legal team had fared no better Tuesday, the day before, during the first hearing Dearie held as special master. It was Trump, of course, who had asked for a special master to review the documents for attorney-client privilege issues (which the Justice Department’s filter team had already done) and executive privilege issues (which can’t legally exist in this scenario). Trump put forward two names of people to serve in the role of special master, and the DOJ agreed to Dearie. But given Dearie’s evenhandedness thus far, Trump and his team may regret asking for a special master.

Again, Dearie held his hearing the day before the 11th Circuit denied Trump access to documents the FBI obtained at Mar-a-Lago that were marked as classified and allowed the DOJ to continue to use those documents in its investigation.

Out of court, Trump has claimed that he properly had possession of many of the documents the FBI found because he had declassified them. But in court filings, Trump’s team has been careful to only say Trump had the power to declassify documents, not that he actually did declassify the documents. In Dearie’s court Tuesday, Trump’s legal team refused to provide any evidence that Trump declassified any of these documents. This prompted Dearie’s now-viral comment, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

Of course, even if Trump did declassify these documents, that would not necessarily save him from criminal liability if the Justice Department pursued charges against him. Some documents must be properly stored and handled, even if they have been declassified.

meaning not under oath, Trump has claimed the FBI might have planted the documents left at his house. Dearie ordered Trump’s legal team to state in a court filing, meaning under penalty of perjury, whether the legal team thinks FBI agents lied about the documents that were obtained at Mar-a-Lago. Dearie’s order can best be described as a “put up or shut up” moment for Trump and his team.

It’s hard to rate which legal news was worse for Trump last week. But one big takeaway is that contrary to how Trump might have expected them to behave, judges he or other Republicans appointed aren’t leaping to take his side. Instead, in two different courtrooms, Republican-appointed judges handed Trump big legal setbacks. The 11th Circuit corrected part of Cannon’s erroneous legal ruling and allowed the DOJ to use the documents marked as classified in its investigation. Dearie sharply questioned Trump’s legal team and fairly handled the case. These are judges following the rule of law. Given Trump’s frivolous claims, this is bad for him.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Sometimes it matters whether or not a judge was appointed by a Republican president or a Democratic president. And our suspicions of judges as partisan actors is validated. But not always, and not in every case. Last week was a good reminder of that fact

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/why-trump-struck-out-last-week-republican-appointed-judges-n1299078

[Rick Plant]

High-priced lawyer Trump brought on to help Mar-a-Lago docs case 'sidelined' in less than a month: CNN

Christopher Kise, the high-priced lawyer brought on by former President Donald Trump to help with his defense in the Mar-a-Lago stolen documents case, has reportedly been "sidelined" after less than a month on the job.

CNN reports that Kise "is expected to remain on Trump’s legal team but is not leading the work related to the federal government’s investigation" into Trump's mishandling of top-secret government documents that he kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort and failed to return even after receiving a subpoena for them.

CNN says it does not know specifically why Kise has been sidelined, but it reports that he "may instead focus his efforts on the other investigations Trump is facing, which range from his business practices to the January 6 insurrection."

Kise, a former Florida solicitor general, was brought on just weeks ago to add some much-needed experience to Trump's legal team, which before had included former One America New Network host Christina Bobb, Florida insurance lawyer Lindsey Halligan, and Alina Habba, who previously served as general counsel for a parking-garage firm.

Trump's outside spending arm reportedly paid Kise a hefty $3 million retainer fee for his services after he was rejected by multiple other attorneys who had relevant experience in litigating complicated cases involving national security.

A Trump spokesman told CNN that Kise remains a key part of Trump's legal team and "any suggestion otherwise is untrue."

Read More Here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/politics/chris-kise-trump-mar-a-lago/index.html

[Rick Plant]

Trump is 'quiet quitting' special master case after making 'terrible blunder': legal expert

Former general counsel of the FBI Andrew Weissmann explained why he thinks Donald Trump is "quiet quitting" his special master case.

Weissmann, alongside former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman was interviewed by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell.

Special master Raymond Dearie ordered Trump's lawyers to secure a document vendor, but in a Tuesday legal filing, the Department of Justice said none of the five major firms want to work for Trump, so the federal government guaranteed payment.

"I think there is something we can take away from what is seems like a small potatoes kind of thing," Weissmann said. "I think what Donald Trump is doing is quiet quitting. He brought this case and he realize he is worth worse off from having brought this case."

Weissman noted reports attorney Chris Kise left only weeks after being paid $3 million.

"I wouldn't want to work on this either," he said.

"So he is really strategically made a terrible blunder," Weissmann concluded.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Trump judge's own special master rebukes her for limiting his ability to do his job



When former President Donald Trump went to court against the Justice Department to stall the federal investigation into classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, a district judge he appointed, Aileen Cannon, granted Trump everything he asked for, appointing a special master to review the documents for executive privilege even though no legal precedent grants a former president privilege over national security documents, and effectively blocking the DOJ from conducting a national security review until the special master's work is complete.

Now, the special master himself, Senior Judge Raymond Dearie of Brooklyn, is rebuking Cannon for a decision that hamstrings a key function of the job she assigned him to do, in a filing published by Just Security. Specifically, he is taking issue with her rescinding his authority to issue interim reports as he conducts his review — and saying her reasoning for this made no sense.

"In the original Appointing Order, the Court directed that 'the Special Master shall submit interim reports and recommendations as appropriate. Upon receipt and resolution of any interim reports and recommendations, the Court will consider prompt adjustments to the Court’s orders as necessary,'" said the filing. "However, the Court later struck that language as part of its order implementing an unrelated ruling by the Eleventh Circuit. As the language quoted above as to interim reports and adjustments to prior orders is consistent with the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling and the efficient administration of the Appointing Order as amended, the undersigned respectfully recommends that the Court issue an order reinstating that language."

This comes after a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit, two of whom were also Trump appointees, reversed the portion of Cannon's order blocking the DOJ from access to documents that were marked classified. The special master review will continue for the unclassified documents.

Dearie was mutually agreed to as the best choice of special master by Trump and the DOJ. According to previous reports, Trump was hoping that because Dearie previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court, and because that court was at the center of a long-running Fox News talking point about the FBI supposedly abusing power in the Russia investigation, that Dearie would automatically view the FBI and DOJ as corrupt and be a sympathetic to him.

So far, however, Trump's hopes haven't panned out. At the first special master hearing, Dearie aggressively pushed Trump's legal team to take a position on the former president's repeated claims he can declassify top secret documents without telling anyone — and made clear he takes the DOJ at its word that documents labeled classified are, in fact, classified.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-aileen-cannon-special-master/

[Rick Plant]

New DOJ filing exposes Trump’s secret objections — and asks special master to call his bluff



The Justice Department in a filing on Tuesday revealed the Trump legal team's objections that they tried to keep under wraps.

Federal Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master tasked with reviewing thousands of documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, earlier this month challenged Trump's lawyers to assert whether they believe his public claim that the FBI may have "planted" evidence during the search and produce evidence of Trump's claim that he "declassified" secret national security documents before taking them home.

Trump's team apparently responded with objections to Dearie's plan for the special master review but they were not made public until the Justice Department responded to them in a filing on Tuesday.

"Team Trump is filing complaints under seal for some reason, but DOJ is discussing it not under seal, so we can largely infer what Trump is upset about," New York Times national security reporter Charlie Savage flagged on Twitter.

The filing revealed that Trump's lawyers objected to Dearie's request that they verify that the search inventory filed by the DOJ is accurate, essentially daring Trump's team to assert his dubious claim that the FBI may have "planted" evidence in official court documents. The DOJ affirmed that its inventory is complete and accurate and urged Dearie to require Trump's lawyers to state whether they believe the list of items seized from the property is accurate.

Trump's lawyers also objected to Dearie's request for them to explain whether they are claiming attorney-client privilege or executive privilege after Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee that ordered the special master review, failed to ask for a distinction.

It's unclear exactly what Trump's third objection was.

"Team Trump doesn't want to brief something that DOJ says is fine briefing. They don't say what, but Dearie's directive had discussed a briefing schedule for any eventual Rule 44 motion by Trump for return of property seized in the search, so it's probably that," Savage reported.

Trump's lawyers previously declined to provide evidence of his claims that he "declassified" the documents, arguing that they may need to save the evidence for a defense in a future hearing and a possible prosecution.

"Trump's team objects to the Special Master's order requiring them to state whether particular documents are privileged or declassified and provide evidence in support of any claim that a document was declassified," tweeted former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. "They want to have their cake and eat it too. They won't get that."

Mariotti also questioned why Trump's lawyers made the arguments under seal.

"That could be because their arguments are at odds with their public positions," Mariotti wrote.

The DOJ filing also revealed that Trump's team had trouble finding a vendor to digitize the documents that were seized for the special master review.

Trump's team "informed us this morning that none of the five document-review vendors proposed by the government" were "willing to be engaged" by Trump. The DOJ asked Dearie for an extra day to secure a vendor themselves. The DOJ expects Trump to "pay the vendor's invoices promptly when rendered," the filing said.

"This is absolutely hilarious," tweeted conservative attorney George Conway.

Trump's legal team has been in flux since the FBI raid in August, as he struggled to find an elite lawyer to represent him — and as some of his attorneys may face legal scrutiny themselves. Trump raised eyebrows earlier this month after he used donor money from his super PAC to pay attorney Chris Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who once represented a member of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro's government, a $3 million advance. But CNN reported on Tuesday that Kise has been "sidelined from the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation less than a month after he was brought on to represent Trump in the matter." A Trump spokesman denied the report and Kise told The Washington Post that he will still be working on the case.

"The infighting in this team," tweeted New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, "after one lawyer faced a search warrant and another two have gotten attention from DOJ over their statements to the feds on the documents, continues."

https://www.salon.com/2022/09/20/trumps-team-miscalculated-experts-say-trumps-handpicked-special-master-just-called-his-bluff/

[Rick Plant]

Judge Cannon’s rulings are so bad they raise a question that is ‘impossible not to ask’: ex-prosecutor

Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon once again received harsh criticism after another controversial ruling for the former president.

Following the six-page ruling, The New York Times headlined, "Judge Overrules Special Master’s Demands to Trump in Document Review."

"A federal judge on Thursday set aside a measure imposed by a special master asking former President Donald J. Trump to certify the accuracy of the F.B.I.’s inventory of the property it had seized from his Florida estate last month, overruling an arbiter she had appointed herself," the newspaper explained. "In removing the restrictions the special master had sought to impose, Judge Cannon essentially let Mr. Trump and his legal team out of a box that Judge Dearie had tried to put them in."

Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who also served as general counsel at the FBI, wrote, "If Cannon wanted to micromanage this she shd not have appointed a Special Master."

"Cannon’s treatment of Dearie, a far more senior and esteemed Article III judge, is one more piece of evidence that she is completely unfit to serve on the bench," he argued.

"What does Donald Trump have on Judge Cannon or her husband?" Weissman wondered.

"Something is so off in her decisions (and the court of appeals said as much) that it is impossible not to ask this question in all seriousness," he explained.

Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/us/trump-special-master-documents.html

[Rick Plant]

Trump blows off lawyer's warning that attacking DOJ makes it more likely he'll be charged: report

Just days after CNN reported that high-priced Trump lawyer Christopher Kise was being "sidelined" by other lawyers in his efforts to defend Trump from potential charges under the Espionage Act, a new report from the Washington Post is showing new details about why Kise has fallen out of favor.

According to the Post's sources, Kise has tried to get Trump to search for an off-ramp in the DOJ investigation into the twice-impeached former president's decision to store top-secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and then refuse to return them even after receiving a subpoena.

Kise has reportedly informed Trump that lobbing aggressive attacks on the DOJ makes it much more likely that he will face criminal charges, whereas taking a less combative approach could help convince the DOJ to resole the case "quietly" without charges.

So far, however, Kise's pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

"A Wednesday night court filing from Trump’s team was combative, with defense lawyers questioning the Justice Department’s truthfulness and motives," the paper writes. "Kise, whose name was listed alongside other lawyers’ in previous filings over the past four weeks, did not sign that one — an absence that underscored the division among the lawyers."

Trump paid a $3 million retainer fee to secure the services of Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who was seen by many legal experts as adding some heft to an otherwise lightweight legal team, which also includes former One America New Network host Christina Bobb, Florida insurance lawyer Lindsey Halligan, and Alina Habba, who previously served as general counsel for a parking-garage firm.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/politics/chris-kise-trump-mar-a-lago/index.html

[Rick Plant]

DOJ moves to appeal Judge Cannon’s special master in Trump documents case: report

On Friday, POLITICO's Kyle Cheney reported that the Justice Department is moving to appeal Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon's order for a special master to review the documents obtained in the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida.

The DOJ already appealed to the Eleventh Circuit for, and won, a narrow carveout of the 100 documents officially marked classified from Cannon's order, exempting those documents from the special master review. However, they argue in a new filing, the broader special master review still hampers a major criminal investigation.

"An expedited appeal would serve the interests of justice," said the filing. "Base on the district court's orders thus far, the government is barred from accessing all of the materials except those with classification markings recovered in August pursuant to a lawful search warrant — and it may continue to be barred from doing so until mid-December or later."

This order, the DOJ argued, means that "the government is ... unable to examine records that were commingled with materials bearing classification markings, including records that may shed light on, for example, how the materials bearing classification markings were transferred to Plaintiff's residence, how they were stored, and who may have accessed them." These documents, the filing added, may also reveal evidence of crimes unrelated to classified information, like obstruction and removal of government records.

According to Cheney, prosecutors discussed this appeal with Trump attorney Christopher M. Kise, who has said the former president opposes the relief sought by the DOJ.

Cannon has come under fire for a series of highly partisan decisions, including one that puts on hold a request by the special master, Senior Judge Raymond Dearie of Brooklyn, for Trump's legal team to certify that the FBI's inventory of property seized pursuant to the search warrant is accurate.

Read More Here: https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1575989700778758150