Trump asking for a special master might be one of his biggest fuck ups ever. Because Judge Raymond Dearie is just kicking the fuck out of them.

Special master demands Trump's lawyers prove claims the FBI 'planted evidence'-

Sarah K. Burris
September 22, 2022



Donald Trump speaks to a large crowd at "An Address to Young America" an event hosted by Students for Trump and Turning Point Action. (Nuno21 / Shutterstock.com)


Immediately following the execution of the search warrant at Donald Trump's resort in Palm Beach, Florida, both the former president and his allies began alleging that the FBI "likely" or "could have" been there to "plant" evidence against him.

"Planting information anyone?" Trump said on his social media site attacking the FBI.

Fox News host Jesse Watters similarly asked the question on his show on Aug. 9.

"What the FBI is probably doing is planting evidence," he claimed. Two days later, Watters was saying, it wasn't so much planting evidence as Trump wanted to take home some reminders of his time in the Oval Office.

IN OTHER NEWS: Jan. 6 committee eager to question Ginni Thomas over her 'unprecedented' election meddling

Even Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told Fox News that no one is certain that the FBI wouldn't "put things in the boxes to entrap him."

By September, Trump was recycling the same tune on his social media.

"They leak, lie, plant fake evidence, allow the spying on my campaign, deceive the FISA Court, RAID and Break-Into my home, lose documents, and then they ask me, as the 45th President of the United States, to trust them," wrote Trump.

He has also attacked the FBI for what he called a "witch hunt" over "Russia, Russia, Russia."

When his lawyers made the case in legal filings, however, that tidbit was missing.

READ MORE: 'Day of trauma': Students told they were going to career fair taken to 'anti-LGBT church service' instead

The Trump lawyers had a rough day in court this week with the special master, Judge Raymond Dearie, one of two judges that Trump asked to be appointed to the position. For six weeks, Trump has claimed that he declassified the documents that the FBI uncovered at Mar-a-Lago. Even Wednesday night when speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity, he said that he has the power to declassify things with the power of his own thoughts.

When Dearie asked Trump's lawyers for proof that Trump declassified the documents, they refused to turn it over, saying that they didn't want to show their hand for what they believe is a forthcoming criminal indictment of the former president.

On Thursday, Dearie asked for a response to another claim by Trump: whether or not they actually believe that the FBI planted evidence.

"No later than Sept. 30, 2022, Plaintiff shall submit a declaration or affidavit that includes each of the following factual matters: a. A list of any specific items set forth in the Detailed Property Inventory that Plaintiff asserts were not seized from the Premises on Aug. 8, 2022," the court filing said.

He also asked the lawyers to give him a list of the items on the list in which the "location within the Premises where the item was found is incorrect."

For example, Trump has focused a lot on the photo of the classified folders laying on the floor of his office, which he said was messy and an unacceptable lie by the FBI. The photos show the items laid out to display the classification abbreviations, and the court documents detail where they were found in Trump's office. So, Trump will have an opportunity to argue they weren't found in a desk drawer or a closet, etc.

Another on the list was for Trump to tell the judge any item that was not on the list that they believe was taken from the premises.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-to-prove-accusations-fbi/

 

The day after the Mar Lago raid, Trump's disinformation service went into high gear and manufactured lies to keep the base in turmoil. We've seen every lie in this posted article bounced around this forum as if a flock of parrots were let loose in the room, squawking about planted evidence and stuff taken but not put on the inventory.

The funny part is, since Christina Bobb committed perjury with her sworn statement claiming no classified documents remained at Mar Lago, Trump's new lawyers have been very careful to keep the lies out of official court briefs. This is even to the point they refused to answer direct questions from the judge. They were in an impossible position. The lies were all they had, but wanted to keep their bar license.

Implausible, easily disproved, and pathetic lies, simply do not make a foundation for a legal defense. Trump's only defense is to accuse other people of committing crimes, and that's not something anyone will bring into a Federal Court without real evidence. This is all the inevitable result of so many Trump supporters happily repeating things they knew could not be true. Trump thinks he can keep lying with no consequence because he's never faced any consequence.

When it's put up or shut up time, they all zip their lips, except of course for Trump himself, who continues to lie. This makes things difficult for lawyers who have to stand before a judge who asks, "So, what's this all about?"

 

Trump has less chance of being elected to any public office than Liz Cheney has of running as a despicable. Or of ever holding an elected office again.

 

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

Matthew Chapman
September 27, 2022



Creative Commons


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/

 

Trump dismissed worries about sharing classified materials because he wanted to show off the 'sexy parts': new book

Tom Boggioni
September 28, 2022



Donald Trump holds a press conference at Trump Turnberry. (Shutterstock.com)


According to a report from the Washington Post on Maggie Haberman's book on Donald Trump, "Confidence Man," Donald Trump's lack of seriousness about classified materials -- as evidenced by his whisking boxes of them away to his Mar-a-Lago resort after he left office -- was on display while he was still president.

According to the book, the former president laughed off concerns from close aides after he proposed working with the Russians on internet hacking concerns and appalled national security officials when he wanted to tweet out a picture of a facility of interest in Iran because he got a kick out of the details in the photo.

According to the Post's Josh Dawsey, "The book shows Trump frequently praising Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, for his strength and even 'laughing' when aides grew mad that he tweeted a proposal for a joint cyber unit with Russia that would have 'effectively let the Russians into the U.S. investigations of hacking,”'" according to Haberman.

IN OTHER NEWS: Texas man blurts out racial slur at homeowner while claiming to sell solar panels

As for the highly secret photos, Haberman claimed the former president was dismissive of concerns by the intel community that he might be revealing too much if he shared the pictures with the entire world.

With Dawsey writing, "Trump shows his lack of care about classified markings. Aides tried to stop Trump from tweeting a photo of an Iranian facility until they could remove classified details, Haberman writes. But he liked how the image looked and proceeded, he quotes Haberman reporting Trump stated, “If you take out the classification, that’s the sexy part.”

You can read more here.


https://www.rawstory.com/trump-top-secret-2658352243/

 

'This will only piss Dearie off': Trump got his handpicked special master — now he's objecting

Igor Derysh, Salon
September 29, 2022



Donald Trump addresses crowd in Sioux City, Iowa in 2016. (Shutterstock.com)


Former President Donald Trump's attorneys pushed back on a request to back up his "planted" evidence claims from the special master tasked with reviewing thousands of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

Longtime federal Judge Raymond Dearie, who was selected by Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon from a list proposed by the former president's legal team, asked Trump's lawyers to submit a sworn declaration on whether they believe the government's inventory list of items seized at Mar-a-Lago is accurate, essentially challenging them on Trump's repeated public claims that the FBI may have "planted" evidence during the search.

Trump's lawyers in a letter to Dearie listed objections to the request. The letter argued that Dearie does not have the authority to require them to make such a statement because Cannon only required the government to confirm the accuracy of the inventory list and not Trump. His lawyers also argued that they could not verify the accuracy because they do not have access to documents that were marked classified.

The letter also objected to Dearie's handling of Trump's privilege claims and his request for a briefing on legal questions around Cannon's order.

Trump's lawyers also submitted a second letter revealing the scope of the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago. The Justice Department earlier this week revealed that none of their proposed vendors to digitize the documents agreed to work with Trump. Trump's lawyers said in the letter that it was because they only recently learned from DOJ lawyers that the 11,000 documents seized from Mar-a-Lago actually contain about 200,000 pages.

Trump's lawyers argued that the vendors declined because the DOJ was not forthcoming about the number of pages and that Dearie had set unrealistic timelines.

"The problem is compounded by the fact that when Plaintiff's counsel referred to either 11,000 pages or even 11,000 documents during the status conference (we are still awaiting the transcript), the Government chose not to interject with an accurate number," Trump's lawyers wrote. "In conversations between Plaintiff's counsel and the Government regarding a data vendor, the Government mentioned that the 11,000 documents contain closer to 200,000 pages."

Both Trump's team and the DOJ asked Dearie for an extension.

"That estimated volume, with a need to operate under the accelerated timeframes supported by the Government, is the reason why so many of the Government's selected vendors have declined the potential engagement," Trump's lawyers wrote. "In short, seasoned IT professionals who routinely work on large-scale document productions with the Government cannot meet the Government's proposed schedule."

The DOJ said it could find a vendor more quickly but still expects Trump to pay for the costs.


The DOJ in its letter pushed back on Trump's objections to the process laid out by Dearie, writing that the former president "bears the burden of proof" in the proceedings.

"If he wants the special master to make recommendations as to whether he is entitled to the relief he seeks, plaintiff will need to participate in the process" the letter said.

Trump's lawyers accused the DOJ of making "antagonistic comments" in response to their objections.

"DOJ continues to mistake itself as having judicial authority. Its comments are not argument, but proclamations designed to steamroll judicial oversight and the plaintiff's constitutional rights," Trump's lawyers wrote.

Andrew Weissmann, a longtime former federal prosecutor who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team, warned that Trump's letter to the judge may rub him the wrong way.

"The tone of this letter and skewed fact presentation is going to only piss Dearie off," he tweeted. "He's a fan of decorum and honesty. Go figure."

Legal reporters also noted that the letters raised questions about the state of Trump's legal team. Some of Trump's lawyers may face their own legal jeopardy in the case and Trump struggled to find an elite attorney to represent him in the case. He made headlines earlier this month when he hired Chris Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who once represented an official in Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government. Trump used $3 million in donor money to his PAC to pay Kise an eye-popping advance in the case but CNN reported this week that Kise was already "sidelined from the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation less than a month after he was brought on to represent Trump in the matter." Kise and a Trump spokesman denied the report but, as Politico reporter Josh Gerstein noted, "Kise does indeed appear to have disappeared from filings."

https://www.rawstory.com/this-will-...handpicked-special-master-now-he-s-objecting/

 

National Archives still doesn't have everything as Judge Cannon tries to delay FBI investigation: report

Bob Brigham
October 01, 2022



Donald Trump at CPAC / Gage Skidmore.


Efforts to obtain government documents from former President Donald Trump's administration have so far failed to reclaim all of the missing documents despite the August FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago.

The National Archives explained the situation in a Sept. 30 letter House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), The Wall Street Journal reported.

“While there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability, we do know that we do not have custody of everything we should,” wrote acting Archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall.

The letter was sent as Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon continues to delay and limit the FBI investigation into the missing public records.

"The letter also said that, as appropriate, the National Archives would consult with the Justice Department on whether to initiate action to recover records that may have been removed in potential violation of the Presidential Records Act," The Journal reported. "Still, the National Archives declined to say whether Mr. Trump had turned over all presidential records. Ms. Maloney had pressed Ms. Steidel Wall to obtain a written certification from Mr. Trump that he had surrendered all presidential records or classified materials, hadn’t made any copies, and hadn’t turned the documents over to anyone other than the archives or the Justice Department."

The Archives suggested the Oversight Committee contact the Department of Justice for information on the ongoing criminal investigation.

Maloney blasted Trump in a Saturday statement.

“Former President Trump and his senior staff have shown an utter disregard for the rule of law and our national security by failing to return presidential records as the law requires,” Maloney said. “I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that all presidential records from the Trump White House are returned to the custody of the government and to make sure these abuses never happen again.”

Read the full report.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-national-archives-fbi/

 

Trump asked lawyer to tell National Archives all documents had been returned -- but he refused: report

Brad Reed
October 03, 2022



President of the United States Donald Trump speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)


A new report from the Washington Post claims that an attorney representing former President Donald Trump refused a request to tell the National Archives earlier this year that all government documents the president took with him to his Mar-a-Lago resort had been returned.

The reason for the refusal, according to the Post's sources, was simple: He wasn't sure if all the documents had, in fact, been returned.

The Post's report states that Trump asked attorney Alex Cannon to make the assertion to the National Archives this past February, shortly after Cannon had facilitated the transfer of 15 boxes worth of material from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives.

What's more, the Post's sources say that "Trump himself eventually packed the boxes that were returned in January," that added that "the former president seemed determined in February to declare that all material sought by the archives had been handed over," despite the fact that FBI would later find multiple boxes of government records at the resort, including multiple documents with the "Top Secret" classification label.

RELATED: Trump threatens to sue Jan. 6 Committee for not investigating vote fraud claims debunked by his own officials

The Post's report goes on to state that Cannon's refusal to validate Trump's false claims about having returned the documents could be used against him if the Department of Justice pursues obstruction of justice charges against him.

"If Trump continued to pressure aides to make false statements even after learning the Justice Department was involved in retrieving the documents, authorities could see those efforts as an attempt to obstruct their investigation," the paper writes.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-documents-mar-a-lago-2658381474/

 

This is another thing that just glares and makes them treasonous conservative/America Hating/Republicans. There were only two kinds of people surrounding Traitor Trump. Those as corrupt as Trump is and the people who fucking knew that and went along with it anyway.

And the way we see that is by the ones who went along and said nothing until they had to go into court and could not afford to get caught lying. And the ones who went along but made sure they covered their own asses with emails and other documentation they could trot to put the blame on someone else.

But they were all traitors to the United States of America because they could see the corruption and attempted coup, and even the end result of an armed insurrection and said nothing at the time in violation of the oaths they took.

Trump's chief of staff implicated in Mar-a-Lago docs scheme by new bombshell reporting

Travis Gettys
October 04, 2022



Mark Meadows (Photo by Nicholas Kamm for AFP)


Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows may have been implicated in the Mar-a-Lago documents case by one of Donald Trump's attorneys, according to a new report.

The New York Times reported that Trump attorney Patrick Philbin falsely told the lawyer for the National Archives last September that the former president had taken only non-classified material such as newspaper clippings home with him from the White House, two sources told the New York Times.

Philbin told National Archives lawyer Gary Stern that he learned that information from Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, and one of the sources said Stern preserved his own description of that exchange in an email.

That claim turned out to be false after FBI agents executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in August and found thousands of pages of presidential records, including hundreds that contained classified information, stashed in Trump's office and other areas at the private club.

IN OTHER NEWS: Reporter reveals new detail that ‘puts Trump at the center’ of stolen docs case

Another Trump attorney, Alex Cannon, told the former president in fall 2021 that officials with the archives wanted those materials back and warned him that a criminal referral could result if he refused to comply, according to a person familiar with the discussions, but Trump basically ignored him.

Trump eventually turned over 15 boxes of government materials in January and asked Cannon to tell the archives that those were all the documents he had taken from the White House, but the lawyer declined because he wasn't sure if that was true.



https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-trump-documents/

 

Reporter reveals new detail that ‘puts Trump at the center’ of stolen docs case

Travis Gettys
October 04, 2022



Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago / Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead


A detail from a new Washington Post report shows that Donald Trump was personally involved in returning only a portion of the government documents the National Archives had repeatedly asked him to return.

The former president asked one of his lawyers to tell the National Archives earlier this year that he had returned all the documents, which the attorney refused to do because he wasn't sure it was true, and the Post's Jacqueline Alemany told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Trump personally packed the boxes himself -- suggesting that he was fully aware that additional materials remained at Mar-a-Lago.

"This is true, that Trump himself eventually packed all of the boxes after very reluctantly agreeing to do so," Alemany said. "Remember, the National Archives and Trump's lawyers were going back and forth on this as early as May. This issue, again, was flagged by lawyers in Trump's White House two weeks prior to Trump even leaving the White House and going down to Mar-a-Lago."

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Trump panicked after Ghislaine Maxwell arrest: 'She say anything about me?'

"But, again, this does put the former president at the center of all of this that he himself was packing the boxes," Alemany added. "He was very secretive about the process. We were also told despite having staffers who live in Palm Beach and work very closely with him on the premise, but again, [attorney] Alex Cannon had also recommended that staffers try to stay out of this, and he did ultimately arrange for one staffer to be there when the National Archives contractor eventually picked up the boxes in late January, but Trump is really the one who knew exactly what was in those boxes."

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-classified-documents-2658383261/

 

Why would any lawyer take on a client they couldn't trust?

 

Because that's what they do for a living. An attorney doesn't have to believe what their client tells them in order to do their job. A smart attorney doesn't commit a crime because they depended on something the client told them. The maids and the cooks at Mar Lago don't trust anything Trump says. There's no reason a lawyer should.

 

Shooter recalls when OJ Simpson was being tried for his wife's murder. The "dream team" defending him were, depending on one's opinion as to OJ's guilt or innocence, either the best or the slimiest attorneys in America. And when F. Lee Bailey was asked if OJ had told him whether he was guilty or not, F. Lee's response was priceless; I haven't asked him and he hasn't offered.

One pundit made the very valid point; no matter how heinous the crime, no matter how despicable the defendant, no matter the pile of evidence against him, every one of them deserves a fair trial represented by competent counsel. To do anything less is to subvert the very foundation of this country's legal system.

 

One would think that with all the experience Donald Trump has gained from having to hire attorneys, he would be better at choosing a competent lawyer. I certainly wouldn't want to rely on an attorney that signs a perjured affidavit and then goes on the news to describe the things she swore she did.

Maybe that's all he can afford these days.

 

Shooter thinks trump is just setting up the basis for appeal when he's convicted.
You know, the old incompetent representation thingy.
It won't help though.
By the time he appeals the despicables will have gotten their perp walk and maybe even their trump in a jail jump suit photo.

 

As Trump plans go, this may be one of his better ones.

The problem with the "incompetent representation" gambit is it doesn't change any facts of the situation. He still stole classified documents and he still obstructed justice. The best lawyer in the world can't get him out of this reality.

Trump's only hope is to be declared above the law and immune from prosecution. I'm not sure what kind of lawyer it takes to accomplish that.

 

Or maybe he could go with temporary insanity.
All those "experts" who diagnosed Trump from a distance would be powerful witnesses, eh?

 

Attaboy

 

Trump plotted to trade Mar-a-Lago files for 'sensitive documents' about his 2016 campaign Russia ties: report

Tom Boggioni
October 08, 2022



US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017 (AFP).


According to new reporting from the New York Times, Donald Trump told aides he wanted to make a deal with the National Archives to return the documents and files he whisked away to his Mar-a-Lago resort in exchange for "sensitive" documents he believes prove his 2016 campaign did not conspire with the Russians.

As the Time's Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt wrote, the former president pressed aides to lie about what he took and was hiding, thus also putting them -- and his attorneys -- in legal jeopardy.

The report states, "Mr. Trump, still determined to show he had been wronged by the F.B.I. investigation into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia, was angry with the National Archives and Records Administration for its unwillingness to hand over a batch of sensitive documents that he thought proved his claims," before adding, "In exchange for those documents, Mr. Trump told advisers, he would return to the National Archives the boxes of material he had taken to Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla."

RELATED: 'Holy moley': Legal experts believe FBI inquiry into possible Trump Tower stash related to looming 'criminal case'

The Times reports that the former president's aides "never pursued" his plan, and that the episode "...demonstrates how Mr. Trump spent a year and a half deflecting, delaying and sometimes leading aides to dissemble when it came to demands from the National Archives and ultimately the Justice Department to return the material he had taken, interviews and documents show."

The report adds, "Mr. Trump floated the idea of offering the deal to return the boxes in exchange for documents he believed would expose the Russia investigation as a 'hoax' cooked up by the F.B.I. Mr. Trump did not appear to know specifically what he thought the archives had — only that there were items he wanted."

The report comes on the heels of additional reporting that DOJ believes the former president has still not turned over all of the documents he took, which could lead to Espionage Act charges and a criminal obstruction indictment.

You can read more here.

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-doj-documents/