by AZ BlueMeanie
Blog for Arizona
September 5th, 2022
Remember that Donald Trump and his corrupt lawyers went forum shopping for a Trump appointed judge – who was not the magistrate judge who issued the search warrant for his home in exile at Mar-a-Lago, the proper venue and jurisdiction for any challenge to the search warrant – whom they were confident would deliver a political favor from the bench, and that she did. Trump has corrupted the federal judiciary to be as corrupt as him. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon needs to be impeached for political favors from the bench. She is unfit to serve a lifetime appointment on the bench.
Norman Ornstein
@NormOrnstein·Follow
A reminder that Judge Cannon never should have taken this case. It was in the hands of the magistrate judge, she was picked by Trump’s lawyers solely because she was a Trumpist, in a jurisdiction nowhere near Mar-a-Lago. She has an effect engaged herself in obstruction of justice
10:04 AM · Sep 5, 2022
NBC News reports, Judge grants Trump’s special master request, delays parts of criminal probe:
In a major blow for the government, a [corrupt] federal judge approved former President Donald Trump’s request for a special master to oversee all the evidence the FBI seized last month from his Mar-a-Lago estate and temporarily blocked parts of the Justice Department’s investigation.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee — said in her ruling Monday that the special master should be able to review the seized documents both to address questions of attorney-client privilege and to litigate claims of executive privilege.
Neal Katyal
@neal_katyal·Follow
This special master opinion is so bad it’s hard to know where to begin:
1. She says Biden hasn’t weighed in on whether docs protected by Exec Privilege. Nonsense. The archives letter (which DOJ submitted to the Judge) makes it clear current President thinks none of this is privileged. Archivist says it is “not a close” question.
2. Judge enjoins the entire investigation because some of the material might be subject to Executive Privilege. But Executive Priv isn’t some post-presidential privilege that allows Presidents to keep documents after they leave office. At most, it simply means these are Executive documents that must be returned to the archives. It doesn’t in any way shape or form mean they can’t be used in a criminal prosecution about stolen docs.
3. She says the “reputational” harm to Trump justifies a special master. That’s insane–every crim deft has reputational harm. Are we now going to have special masters in every crim investigation?
4. She says the Special Master should screen materials for exec privilege, without ever once explaining what specific material is subject to exec priv, particularly when the incumbent President rejects the assertion. How is the Master supposed to figure that intricate Q out?
5. She says that because some tiny percentage of materials might be privileged, the entire investigation over all the materials has to stop. That’s a bazooka when one needs at most a scalpel.
6. She tries to enjoin the Exec Branch from using these materials in an investigation, but the govt has already reviewed all the materials. It makes no sense.
7. She says Trump suffers irreparable harm in interim, but the only harm she isolates is he won’t have the docs back during the investig. That’s not irreparable, he can get them back later &if they are improperly used to bring an indictment, he can move to dismiss the indictment.
8. Her analysis of standing is terrible. Trump wouldn’t own these docs anyway, so why does he get a Master over them? If there is some marginal claim to some attorney client docs, that handful of material can be separately dealt with–you don’t enjoin the entire investig for that.
9. Her jurisdictional analysis is similarly awful. She let Trump forum shop for a judge, instead of letting the magistrate judge evaluate these claims. The appearances here are tragic.
That’s just a few of many more problems. Frankly, any of my first year law students would have written a better opinion.
3:48 PM · Sep 5, 2022
https://twitter.com/TheBeatWithAri/stat ... _w5b4rAAAA
Government employees screening the documents had set aside only ones that might have been protected by attorney-client privilege and [correctly] argued that executive privilege was not at play here.
“In addition to being deprived of potentially significant personal documents, which alone creates a real harm, Plaintiff faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public,” she wrote.
Trump had requested that a special master, a third-party attorney, review the material seized Aug. 8 to assess it for potential attorney-client or executive privilege issues.
Trump’s attorneys argued in a recent court filing that “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.”
The Justice Department had argued against the special master request, saying a special master “is unnecessary and would significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests.” Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement Monday, “The United States is examining the opinion and will consider appropriate next steps in the ongoing litigation.”
Cannon allowed a national security review of the records to continue but temporarily blocked the government from reviewing and using them for its “investigative purposes.” She systematically rejected the Justice Department’s arguments that Trump’s special-master request was filed too late, that it was superfluous and that Trump had no right for review because he didn’t own the documents in question that were seized.
Norman Ornstein
@NormOrnstein·Follow
Judge single-handedly blocks criminal investigation, usurping clear cut executive power. This is a clear-cut impeachable offense.
11:05 AM · Sep 5, 2022
Cannon did not immediately grant Trump’s request to get back more of “his” property more quickly.
These classified documents are NOT his property! They are the property of the National Archives.
In a statement posted on his [QAnon conspiracy mongering] Truth Social website after the ruling, Trump attacked the Justice Department and the FBI as “totally corrupt.”
Psychological projection is a favorite tool of The Authoritarian Playbook: a media guide.
It is Donald Trump, his lawyers, and U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon who are “totally corrupt” – the fix was in with this forum shopped corrupt judge. Our national security is at risk, as are U.S. intelligence assets overseas.
Steve Vladeck
@steve_vladeck·Follow
This ruling is preposterous—especially the part where it blocks the government from continuing to use materials already in its possession.
At the very least, that last ruling creates an immediately appealable injunctive-like order, which DOJ can now take to the Eleventh Circuit.
Chris “Subscribe to Law Dork!” Geidner@chrisgeidner
BREAKING: Judge Aileen Cannon grants Trump’s request and orders the appointment of a special master to review questions over the materials seized at Mar-a-Lago. She also halts use of the materials for “criminal investigative purposes” pending the special master’s review.
10:16 AM · Sep 5, 2022
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