BIG: Special Master Appointed Re MAL Raid
TGP passes the story on, with a link to CBSNews’ Steve Portnoy. Notably, Portnoy points out that Judge Cannon takes at least two swipes at the government and makes some additional important statements. First, she questions the FBI’s reliability—offering two examples to support her skepticism. And Second, she strongly suggests that DoJ’s arguments against Trump’s executive privilege “overstate[] the law.” A Third important point: Cannon blocks any further investigation until the special master reports. Finally, Cannon reveals, among other things, that the FBI Raiders seized Trump’s medical records. Medical records? Passports? This is further confirmation of SWC’s view, shared by many, that 1) the warrant itself was overbroad and that 2) the search as conducted was overbroad. The implication is that the whole thing should be tossed out.
Here’s an unroll of Portnoy’s twitter thread:
JUST IN: Judge Aileen Cannon grants Trump's motion to appoint a special master "to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney client and/or executive privilege."
MORE: To DOJ's argument that the FBI's privilege review team has sifted out potentially-privileged material, Cannon writes, "The Court is not so sure."
Cannon notes two known instances of investigators later sorting aside docs that might be privileged.Judge Cannon sets aside DOJ's argument that Trump cannot assert executive privilege against the current executive branch.
"In the Court's estimation, this position arguably overstates the law," Cannon writes."The Supreme Court did not rule out the possibility of a former President overcoming an incumbent President on executive privilege matters," Cannon says in her ruling, saying DOJ has overstated the 1977 case Nixon v GSA.
Judge Cannon BLOCKS prosecutors from continuing their criminal investigation until the special master completes his/her work:
"[T]he Court does not find that a temporary special master review under the present circumstances would cause undue delay [to the investigation]."MORE from Cannon's order:
-- Docs seized from Mar-a-Lago includes Trump's "medical documents, correspondence related to taxes, and accounting information"
-- Cannon says as Trump is a former president, "the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own.""[T]his is not a situation in which there is no room to doubt the immediately
apparent incriminating nature of the seized material, as in the case of the sale of cocaine," Judge Cannon writes.Both sides have until this Friday to submit a list of proposed candidates to serve as special master, Cannon says.
Big victory for Trump. So far. I’ll admit that I was uneasy about the judge’s delay, but it seems she wanted to be thorough.
Turley
...As I stated earlier, the Justice Department dramatically over-played its hand by claiming that the appointment would threaten national security or that there was no legal basis for such an appointment...
...Those were the same claims used to oppose any release of any information in the redacted affidavit -- only to be forced to release such a document without compromising national security.
Was this merely a step in laying the groundwork for a new October surprise by the Dems? They can't have believed for a nanosecond that Trump would meekly and silently acquiesce to the FBI's invasion of his home in clear violation of his Fourth Amendment rights under an overbroad affidavit, overbroad warrant and overbroad seizure (boxes that contained a single sheet of alleged "classified" information under the conditions set forth in the warrant caused the entire box to be confiscated). No wonder Garland took months to decide and why he always looks so nervous!
The DOJ also can't have believed that, when Trump publicly expressed his well-founded outrage, that his supporters (as well as an unknown number of non-supporters) would be similarly outraged and fearful that they too could be subjected to similar mining of their heretofore "personal" private affairs. Trump was never more right when he said that we are their real target, he's only standing in their way.
Now, I've come to believe that the FBI has already activated teams of provocateurs to tempt the short-sighted and weak-minded on our side into participating in some sort of armed response to their calumny. ("Blood in the streets if Trump is indicted" read a recent headline.) These FBI plots have likely already begun and make the "Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping" look like a pre-school game of tag. This is the predicate for seizure of all guns in civilian hands and possibly martial law in October. Expect another even more sophisticated attempt to steal your vote in November. Nancy Pelosi doesn't look terribly worried about losing her Speakership, does she?
No matter how low we imagine this seditious, illegitimate "government" CAN go, it still surprises us with how much lower it WILL go.