The Justice Dept. Just Eviscerated the Trump-Appointed Judge in the Mar-a-Lago Case
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters
Hidden between the lines of the Justice Department’s filing Thursday of a request for Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon to temporarily stay part of her Trump special master order is the implication that Cannon is accomplishing little besides hurting an investigation that seeks to protect our national security .
The DOJ’s filing not only gives notice that it plans to appeal her decision, but also asks her to enjoin herself by temporarily lifting her ban on the DOJ reviewing and working with the set of just over 100 classified documents that are being kept separately from the rest of the documents seized by the FBI at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Cannon had stopped the DOJ from reviewing all of the documents but allowed an intelligence assessment of the documents to continue. Although the DOJ notes that it continues to disagree with Cannon barring access to all of the documents pending a special master’s review , its stay request applies only to a review of the classified documents. In laying out the reasons for this narrow ask, the DOJ exposes Cannon’s allowing only an intelligence assessment of the documents to proceed as unworkable and dangerous.
At best, Cannon’s view that an intelligence review can proceed entirely independently of the criminal investigation reflects a naiveté about how national security investigations work. Simply put, the intelligence assessment isn’t just an ivory-tower reading of documents by a bunch of a nerdy analysts working in a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) but requires working with the documents to answer such crucial questions as who may have accessed the classified documents, who they may have been disseminated to, and where else classified documents might be located.
These answers come only from investigative steps like tracking down and talking to witnesses, reviewing surveillance and other forensic data, and following up on leads that emerge from this process. By banning such steps, Cannon ignores the fact that the FBI is part of the intelligence community that is tasked with assessing the classified documents. Her ban is really a ban on the DOJ and the FBI’s ability to properly protect national security.
In rebutting Cannon’s meritless concern over executive privilege as a justification for this dangerous interference with a criminal investigation into threats to national security, the DOJ starts by pointing out that executive privilege cannot possibly justify denying the Executive Branch from access to and use of its own documents. It reminds Cannon of the Supreme Court’s 1977 ruling in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services , in which the court discussed how anomalous it would be to allow a former president to use executive privilege to stop an investigation “by the very Executive Branch in whose name the privilege is invoked.”
The DOJ also points out that Trump and his legal team never asserted executive privilege over classified documents previously subpoenaed and produced by them but only asserted executive privilege over documents discovered to have been withheld. Think of a bank robber who returns stolen cash stained by an exploding dye-pack but claims more stained money found in his house was not actually stolen.
The DOJ also eviscerates Cannon’s concern over possible injury to Trump by pointing out that Trump has never claimed to have any “property, possessory, or other legal interest in classified records” and that the Supreme Court and other federal courts of appeals have rejected the idea that mere fear of criminal prosecution constitutes irreparable harm.
Most powerfully, the DOJ turns Cannon’s concern over possible injury to Trump against her by pointing out that the real potential irreparable harm arising from this case is not any kind of injury to Trump but rather the risk of irreparable harm to the government and public from delaying the criminal investigation in this case.
In sum, the DOJ makes the case that Cannon’s ordering of a special master accomplishes nothing in the way of protecting real legal rights for Trump or the Executive Branch. The only thing accomplished by Cannon’s ruling is delaying and hurting a potential criminal case against Trump. But maybe that was the point all along.
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At best, Cannon’s view that an intelligence review can proceed entirely independently of the criminal investigation reflects a naiveté about how national security investigations work. Simply put, the intelligence assessment isn’t just an ivory-tower reading of documents by a bunch of a nerdy analysts working in a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) but requires working with the documents to answer such crucial questions as who may have accessed the classified documents, who they may have been disseminated to, and where else classified documents might be located.
These answers come only from investigative steps like tracking down and talking to witnesses, reviewing surveillance and other forensic data, and following up on leads that emerge from this process. By banning such steps, Cannon ignores the fact that the FBI is part of the intelligence community that is tasked with assessing the classified documents. Her ban is really a ban on the DOJ and the FBI’s ability to properly protect national security.
Trump Went Judge Shopping and It Paid Off in Mar-a-Lago Case
In rebutting Cannon’s meritless concern over executive privilege as a justification for this dangerous interference with a criminal investigation into threats to national security, the DOJ starts by pointing out that executive privilege cannot possibly justify denying the Executive Branch from access to and use of its own documents. It reminds Cannon of the Supreme Court’s 1977 ruling in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services , in which the court discussed how anomalous it would be to allow a former president to use executive privilege to stop an investigation “by the very Executive Branch in whose name the privilege is invoked.”
The DOJ also points out that Trump and his legal team never asserted executive privilege over classified documents previously subpoenaed and produced by them but only asserted executive privilege over documents discovered to have been withheld. Think of a bank robber who returns stolen cash stained by an exploding dye-pack but claims more stained money found in his house was not actually stolen.
every classified US document is numbered and catalogued. an intense internal audit is taking place now as well as polygraphs and interviews of those that handled those documents within the chain of the last administration. the FBI is also in the process of a full forensic investigation of every page of classified documents recovered. in addition to the number of disbarred attorneys associated with the treasonous trump administration, there will also be the wreckage of multiple gov't service careers. tough shit suckers.
They made their beds. I can't wait to see them rot in them
You won't be allowed in their rooms.
Speaking of the former criminal enterprise of an 'administration'.
Former FBI assistant director says Trump could have kept hold of a foreign country's nuclear secrets because they had 'the highest price tag' for classified info
The former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi has a theory on why Trump kept top-secret nuclear files.
Figliuzzi said these files held "the greatest value" to interested foreign powers and their enemies.
He said countries would give "their right arm" to find out what the US knows about their defenses.
A former FBI official said former President Donald Trump may have wanted to keep top-secret documents about a foreign power because of the astronomical price that country — or its adversaries — might pay for such information.
Frank Figliuzzi , a former FBI assistant director, was asked by the MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday why Trump would have wanted to keep top-secret documents about a foreign country's nuclear program at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Trump had such documents at his home.
In response, Figliuzzi posited that the high price of these documents would make them attractive assets.
"If I were to be asked what the highest price tag or highest value might be on what kind of classified US government information, certainly among the top of my answers would be: nuclear-related information," he said.
He added that such information had "potentially the greatest value" if one were to try to "market it and capitalize" on having such files.
"Well, first, a country would give its right arm to learn what the US knew about its nuclear program and capabilities, not only for the obvious reason of, 'Hey, they figured this out,' but also because it would signal what we don't know about their program," Figliuzzi said.
"Secondly, let's move to that country's adversary. They would give their left and right arms to find out what their adversary is doing in terms of nuclear capability," he added.
Aside from the value of the information, Figliuzzi noted that the files were at Mar-a-Lago, which Figliuzzi said had "some of the lowest security you can imagine," with foreign nationals "traipsing in and out."
A representative at Trump's postpresidential office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Figliuzzi is not the first FBI official to speculate that foreign nationals may have tried to obtain access to Mar-a-Lago.
The former FBI official Peter Strzok — who has a bitter history with Trump — said in August that "any competent foreign intelligence service" would have tried to gain access to the former president's Florida residence. Strzok cited Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba as countries agents could've come from.
Figliuzzi is also not alone in speculating that Trump may have tried to sell such classified data.
In August, Charles Leerhsen — an author who ghostwrote one of Trump's books — said the former president may have taken White House documents to sell as presidential memorabilia . Separately, the Fox News host Eric Shawn asked during a broadcast whether Trump had tried to "sell or share" these top-secret files "to the Russians" or to "the Saudis."
During the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago last month, agents seized 11 sets of classified documents , including some marked "top secret." Some of the documents may have concerned nuclear weapons , The Washington Post reported .
According to the search warrant, the Justice Department is investigating whether Trump broke any of three federal laws — including the Espionage Act — by keeping the documents at his Florida residence.
Last month, Trump dismissed the idea that there were any nuclear documents in his possession.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Which is why the 'Judge's' ruling is so dangerous. The FBI is the domestic investigatory Agency in the IC but the STUPID Judge didn't understand that and enjoined them from participating in the risk assessment.
If the person being interviewed handled documents from BOTH tranches [Jan. 2022 and August 2022] Trump's lawyers can demand that the FBI/DOJ prove that they ONLY addressed the Jan. 2022 docs. Anything the interviewee says about the August tranche would be inadmissible. The FBI does NOT record their interviews.
The Judge's ruling is a giant clusterfuck of sloppy jurisprudence.
I think they just gave the judge an out. So she's out of it, the "investigation" continues and the DOJ/FBI, whether right or wrong, looks irredeemably biased.
All the best with an indictment.
What leads you to believe that Judge Cannon is 'out of it' Vic?
The investigation is NOT continuing.
Our attentive readers are aware that an indictment is on your and DeSantis's wish lists.
I wonder how much someone paid her to rule that way?
trumpski promised her she would be the new AG in 2024...
That or first in the SCOTUS pipeline.
OVERRULED!
Opinions from multiple legal scholars and experts have indicated that her delaying tactic was dead wrong. That biased bitch should be charged with obstruction of justice and removed from the bench.