Mar-a-Lago: Special Master Asks for Proof That FBI Planted Evidence
By: Sonam Sheth (Business Insider)
put up or stfu trump. looks like that $3 million lawyer retainer might come up a bit short.
The outside arbiter reviewing records seized from Mar-a-Lago has asked former President Donald Trump's legal team to definitively say whether they believe the FBI planted evidence when it searched Trump's Florida home.
Judge Raymond Dearie was appointed special master earlier this month and is tasked with sifting through the thousands of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago and filtering out those that may be covered by executive or attorney-client privilege.
On Thursday, he said in a new court filing that Trump's legal team must submit, by September 30, a declaration or affidavit that includes "a list of any specific items set forth" in the FBI's inventory of items removed from Mar-a-Lago that Trump "asserts were not seized from the Premises on August 8, 2022."
The line appears to reference the former president's public claim that the FBI planted evidence when executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago last month.
"Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be alone," he wrote on Truth Social on August 10, "without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, 'planting.'"
Thursday wasn't the first time Dearie had essentially asked Trump's lawyers to put their money where their mouth is and back up his public claims. His statements were all the more noteworthy given that Dearie was appointed after Trump's lawyers pushed for a special master, and his name was on the list of candidates they submitted.
At a Tuesday hearing, the special master chided Trump's team for wanting to "have your cake and eat it" after they refused to provide evidence that Trump had declassified all the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.
Ahead of the hearing, Dearie had pressed the former president's lawyers to confirm his claim that the records were declassified. Trump's team resisted the request, however, saying that turning over that information would force Trump to "fully and specifically disclose a defense" that he might try to mount in the event of a "subsequent indictment."
But Dearie didn't appear to buy that argument, saying that if the former president's attorneys didn't give him evidence of declassification, he would side with the feds.
"As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it," he said, later adding: "You can't have your cake and eat it."
In Thursday's court filing, Dearie also referenced the Justice Department's revelation that an FBI filter team had conducted an initial review of the Mar-a-Lago records and determined that roughly 500 pages could be covered by attorney-client privilege.
Noting that the government had provided Trump's team with that initial set of documents, Dearie ordered Trump's lawyers to decide by September 26 which of those items they want to assert privilege over. And he gave the former president's team until October 14 to submit all their privilege claims.
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The special master Trump requested is calling for extra help to review the seized Mar-a-Lago documents — and will be billing Trump $500 an hour for it
Judge Raymond Dearie is calling for help to get through the documents the FBI seized.
He nominated a retired judge, James Orenstein, to aid him — at the cost of $500 per hour.
This bill will be footed by Trump, who has been asked to pay for the special master he requested.
District Court Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master appointed as a neutral investigator to look over the files seized in the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid, is calling for backup.
In a filing dated Thursday , Dearie wrote that he would not seek additional compensation for serving as a special master in the Trump case. However, he asked to be allowed to hire an assistant — James Orenstein, a former magistrate judge in New York — to help in evaluating the 11,000 documents that the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago.
This guy isn't falling into line like he's supposed to. I can already hear trmp saying "You'e fired!"
meh, he's retired and owes the orange menace nothing.
It's freaking hilarious that trumpturd wanted the Special Master and now doesn't like their rulings or whatever you'd call it.
Between Dearie and the 11th circuit court Trump is taking a battering.
he's so popular with the mentally above average GOPers...
The 11th Circuit's ruling was a total smack down of that stupid judge. Sanity prevailed.
Ha. Asking for proof. Imagine that...
Dearie sounds like a no nonsense judge. That's a very good thing.
their ringer had a stinger...
about FCKN TIME somebody held this POS to account for not accounting properly for being accountable for far too much that is presently divided and taunt with tension due to some fck face , i shall not mention
You make me
You're so clever
Proof, we don't have no stinkin' proof. We just spew BS and hope that it sticks to the wall.
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See 1.1.1
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The proof is that he thinks it happened. When you’re pretending to be President you have the authority to do that.