Mar-a-Lago Raid: Trump Seeks Special Master As Leaked Docs Show Biden Helping FBI Just Prior To Raid
Team Biden may not have known of the “raid” in advance, but their fingerprints are all over this. John Solomon: “the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-a-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege.”
Two pretty big developments in the Trump Mar-a-Lago Raid case.
Yesterday, Trump commenced a new action in federal court in the Southern District of Florida by filing a Motion for Judicial Oversight seeking appointement of a Special Master to review documents seized by the FBI that potentially contain privileged materials.
President Donald J. Trump (“Movant”), through his undersigned counsel, respectfully files this Motion For Judicial Oversight And Additional Relief, which seeks an order that: (a) appoints a Special Master; (b) enjoins further review of seized materials by the Government until a Special Master is appointed; (c) requires the Government to provide a more detailed Receipt for Property; and (d) requires the Government to return any item seized that was not within the scope of the Search Warrant….
The actual chronology of events clearly establishes that there was no “exigency” for a forceful raid and there is no basis for keeping infornation about the raid from the public. Movant therefore requests that the Court order the Government to provide the information sought by this motion, and to take the other measures set forth in detail below, in order to protect Movant’s constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment.
(Unfortunately, because the document was not electronically filed but was manually filed (due to PACER portal problems) and then scanned by the clerk’s office, it’s hard to copy from the document and paste here without substantial text errors. I’m trying to catch and correct them as I can, so if you see garbled text, that’s why.)
The case is assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee.
As I mentioned yesterday, this motion should have been filed soon after the raid, it may be too late to unring the bell on what the FBI already has reviewed. The motion also does not seek any relief vacating or otherwise scaling back the overly broad warrant issued by a Magistrate, but does return of all documents unconstitutionally seized:
According to the Government, the agents seized documents, privileged and/or potentially privileged materials, and other items-including photos, handwritten notes, and even President Trump’s passports2-that were outside the lawful reach of an already overbroad warrant. President Trump, like all citizens, 1s protected by the Fourth Amendment to the United States of the Constitution. Property seized in violation of his constitutional rights must be returned forthwith.
What’s most interesting is that it gives an account of the interactions between team Trump and DOJ/FBI portraying a claim that there were no exigent circumstances necessitating a raid. (Note: Jay Bratt and I were friendly in law school, though we’ve had no contact in decades.)
On May 11, 2022, Movant voluntarily accepted service of a grand jury subpoena addressed to the custodian of records for the Office of Donald J. Trump, seeking documents bearing classification markings. President Trump determined that a search for documents bearing classification markings should be conducted-even if the marked documents had been declassified-
and his staff conducted a diligent search of the boxes that had been moved from the White House to Florida. On June 22, 2022, President Trump, through counsel, invited the FBI to come to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve responsive documents.The next day, on June 3, 2022, Jay Bratt, Chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section in the DOJ’s National Security Division, came to Mar-a-Lago, accompanied by three FBI agents. President Trump greeted them in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago. There were two other attendees.: the person designated as the custodian of records for the Office of Donald J. Trump, and counsel for President Trump. Before leaving the group, President Trump’s last words to Mr. Bratt and the FBI agents were as follows: “Whatever you need, just let us know.”
Responsive documents were provided to the FBI agents. Mr. Bratt asked to inspect a storage room. Counsel for President Trump advised the group that President Trump had authorized him to take the group to that room. The group proceeded to the storage room, escorted by two Secret Service agents. The storage room contained boxes, many containing the clothing and personal items of President Trump and the First Lady. When their inspection w~ completed, the group left the area.
Once back in the dining room, one of the FBI agents said, “Thank you You did not need to show us the storage room, but we appreciate it. Now it all makes sense.” Counsel for President Trump then closed the interaction and advised the Government officials that they should contact him with any further needs on the matter.
On June 8, 2022, Mr. Bratt wrote to counsel for President Trump. His letter requested, in pertinent part, that the storage room be secured. In response, President Trump directed his staff to place a second lock on the door to the storage room, and one was added. In the days that followed, President Trump continued to assist the Government. For instance, members of his personal and household staff were made available for voluntary interviews by the FBI. On June 22, 2022, the Government sent a subpoena to the Custodian of Records for the Trump Organization seeking footage from surveillance cameras at Mar-a-Lago. At President Trump’s direction, service of that subpoena was voluntarily accepted, and responsive video footage was provided to the Government.
In another potentially big development, John Solomon has release an email which purports to show the Biden administration purporting to retroactively waive Trump’s executive privilege to assist the FBI investigation of Trump that led to the Mar-a-Lago raid. This may explain whey the Biden administration has denied prior knowledge of the raid, but that isn’t the point, Biden was assisting the FBI by taking the controversial step of waiving a predecessor’s executive privilege (it’s legally unclear whether that actually can be done).
From John Solomon’s report, Biden White House facilitated DOJ’s criminal probe against Trump, scuttled privilege claims: memos:
Long before it professed no prior knowledge of the raid on Donald Trump’s estate, the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-a-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege, according to contemporaneous government documents reviewed by Just the News.
The memos show then-White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su was engaged in conversations with the FBI, DOJ and National Archives as early as April, shortly after 15 boxes of classified and other materials were voluntarily returned to the federal historical agency from Trump’s Florida home.
By May, Su conveyed to the Archives that President Joe Biden would not object to waiving his predecessor’s claims to executive privilege, a decision that opened the door for DOJ to get a grand jury to issue a subpoena compelling Trump to turn over any remaining materials he possessed from his presidency.
The machinations are summarized in several memos and emails exchanged between the various agencies in spring 2022, months before the FBI took the added unprecedented step of raiding Trump’s Florida compound with a court-issued search warrant.
The most complete summary was contained in a lengthy letter dated May 10 that acting National Archivist Debra Steidel Wall sent Trump’s lawyers summarizing the White House’s involvement.
You can read the full text of that May 22, 2022, memo, Full text of National Archives letter to Trump on classified documents.
Team Biden was in on it and facilitating the attack on his predecessor and likely opponent in 2024. Remember the scandal and subsequent impeachment when Trump asked Ukraine to look into Biden family corruption in Ukraine?
Here, the MSM is already covering for the Bidens, as they did on the laptop.
MORE TO FOLLOW.
So let me get this straight. Trump took the normal action of claiming executive privilege over documents.
Then Biden took the radical step of retroactively waiving that privilege so the DOJ could snap in place a criminal investigation against his political opponent? Holy cow.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 23, 2022
Alan Dershowitz: “One thing that is clearly wrong is that the Biden White House shouldn’t be able to wave the executive privilege of President Trump. That would mean that no President could speak to anyone in complete confidence.” So true! https://t.co/Ar9hoQN93D
— Steve Latimer (@stevelatimertx) August 23, 2022
UPDATE 7:30 PM
The Judge has entered the following Order:
| 08/23/2022 | 10 | PAPERLESS ORDER: The Court is in receipt of 1 Plaintiff’s Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief. To facilitate appropriate resolution, on or before August 26, 2022, Plaintiff shall file a supplement to the Motion further elaborating on the following: (1) the asserted basis for the exercise of this Court’s jurisdiction, whether legal, equitable/anomalous, or both; (2) the framework applicable to the exercise of such jurisdiction; (3) the precise relief sought, including any request for injunctive relief pending resolution of the Motion; (4) the effect, if any, of the proceeding before Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart; and (5) the status of Plaintiff’s efforts to perfect service on Defendant. Signed by Judge Aileen M. Cannon on 8/23/2022. (AMC) (Entered: 08/23/2022) |
This suggests the Judge may be thinking the motion should have been made in the already-pending case, not by filing a new case.
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Moscow on the Potomac. Communists behaved this way not long ago. There used to be daylight between ‘us and them’. No more.
Opinion piece in today’s WSJ argues that the entire basis for warrant was improper. Basically it was impossible for Trump’s retention of the records to be illegal.
Yes. Read it. It demonstrates just what a criminal conspiracy the DoJ and it’s armed goons at the FBI have become.
The DoJ cited general statutes as justification for the assault on MAL; 18 U.S.C. §§793, 2071, or 1519. But these don’t apply to any sitting or former President. A President’s duties and privileges are covered by the Presidential Records Act. The SCOTUS has ruled on this. In Morton v. Mancari (1974) the court ruled “where there is no clear intention otherwise, a specific statute will not be controlled or nullified by a general one, regardless of the priority of enactment.”
The PRA was signed into law in 1978. Congress knew that if it wanted to make these general statutes applicable to the President in the wake of the 1974 decision it had to state that intention clearly in the PRA. It didn’t. When Congress drafted the bill it made these general statutes applicable to any representative a president might appoint. The National Archivist was not to make any records available to such a representative “if that individual has been convicted of a crime relating to the review, retention, removal, or destruction of records of the Archives.”
I know the leftists will attempt to argue this is somehow a gray area. It isn’t. SCOTUS ruled that Congress had to clearly state any intention to apply these laws to the President personally. It didn’t. Case closed. Presidents are simply warned to vet prospective representatives to ensure they have legal access to the records.
Garland knows all this perfectly well. That’s why he had to wait until this in-the-tank, complicit Trump-hating Magistrate was “on duty” to get a warrant. It was so far out of line that any real federal judge would have tossed it. It’s so illegal that Garland didn’t dare consult with the DoJ’s Office of Legal Consul. The OLC would have told him he was acting illegally. And he didn’t want the paper trail.
Here’s more of the paper trail Garland is trying to ignore.
https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2022-08/memorandum%20opinion.pdf
JUDICIAL WATCH, INC., Plaintiff, v. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION, Defendant, was a 2012 case in with Judicial Watch sued to get perhaps hundreds of hours of audio tapes former President Clinton made with historian Taylor Branch added to the National Archives. With some justification as the stated purpose of the recordings was to create an oral history of the Clinton presidency. We have a good idea of what was in them as Branch wrote two books a book based on those tapes. THE CLINTON TAPES: WRESTLING HISTORY With The PRESIDENT (some sold under a title along the lines of “conversations with a President).
But obviously we don’t know everything on those tapes, but they include official acts such as recordings of phone calls with foreign heads of state.
To cut to the chase. Judicial Watch lost. The DoJ was defending the NARA and argued the exact opposite of what they are contending now.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed with the DoJ’s arguments and ruled:
– The PRA is controlling law concerning Presidential records.
– The President has sole discretion to segregate personal records for Presidential records.
– The President has sole authority to determine what is a classified document, what is a declassified document, and what records to retain or destroy.
(“Since the President is completely entrusted with the management and even the disposal of Presidential records during his time in office, it would be difficult for this Court to conclude that Congress intended that he would have less authority to do what he pleases with what he considers to be his personal records.”)
– Neither the DoJ nor the NARA have any authority to seize Presidential records; this is why Judicial Watch suit was dismissed. They wanted the NARA to take control of records, and Judge Berman-Jackson ruled that the relief Judicial Watch sought simply wasn’t available under the law.
(“The Court will grant the motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) because plaintiff’s claim is not redressable. NARA does not have the authority to designate materials as “Presidential records,” NARA does not have the tapes in question, and NARA lacks any right, duty, or means to seize control of them. In other words, there has been no showing that a remedy would be available to redress plaintiff’s alleged injury even if the Court agreed with plaintiff’s characterization of the materials.”)
If the NARA and/or the DoJ disputed a former President’s categorization r.e. Presidential records vs. personal records, under the PRA, Berman Jackson ruled they had one and only one recourse. Sue the former President in civil court.
The idea that a President can “illegally” retain “classified” documents is particularly absurd. The President’s authority to classify and declassify information is absolute and stems om his Article II Section 2 powers as Commander in Chief. The Constitution mentions departments as it anticipated there would be departments. But it doesn’t name them, and none of the heads of those have any powers to do anything whatsoever unless the President delegates his inherent powers to them. For instance, every President has to designate original classification authorities by position. Here’s a link to Obama’s E.O. that delegates his authority.
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-original-classification-authority
Here’s what’s galling about this. None of the clowns from the swamp accusing him of “illegally” retaining “classified” documents had any authority to decide if something is classified on their own. Every President has to renew that delegation of authority (issue their own E.O. 13526) or they have no legal power to decide if anything is classified.
And no President has to follow any procedure to declassify information as the Constitution doesn’t prescribe a procedure. They can do it however they wish and they don’t need the approval of any subordinate department or officer.
None of this applied to Hillary! Everybody below the President has to follow the procedure the President establishes. The President doesn’t, but everyone else does. So Hillary! had no authority on her own to decide things are overclassified and then have her underlings remove the information from SIPRNET/WWMCCS, remove the classification markings, then email it to her illegal server over the internet!!??!?
Everything Hillary! did was traitorous. Everything the DoJ/FBI is doing now is unconstitutional, illegal, and subversive. In fact, we have a word for it in the Navy; mutiny.
The ironic thing is that Hillary! was right about one thing. A great deal of classified information is improperly and overly classified. Why is that, boys and girls? Because it’s only classified at all to hide information about illegal government activities or embarrassing information from the public. Then it’s overclassified to compartmentalize it to deny access to the information from any honest brokers who have security clearances.
Of course, that abuse of the classification system is also illegal, but the way the system is built no one will ever know. That is, until Trump came along and the Deep State illegally targeted him. They tried to destroy him, but couldn’t, and he won the keys to the kingdom. And now they’re afraid.
So now Garland and Joe Biden are breaking every law in the land to steal the evidence back. That’s exactly what’s going on now. This illegal home invasion and smash and grab was conducted to seize the evidence of their criminality back. Having illegally and retroactively waived Trump’s executive privilege dollars to donuts Biden will illegally reclassify this information to make sure it never sees the light of day again.
The same President who’s sabotaging our economy by destroying our energy independence, and is now outsourcing our energy sector and our entire economy to our greatest enemy, the CCP, will claim he’s defending America. But they can only try Trump in the court of public opinion. The last thing they want is to have to try to defend all this in a legitimate court. They know that they’ll be destroyed, so blatant are their crimes.
By their actions are showing they’re the guilty parties, not Trump. Which is why they’re fighting tooth and nail to hide the affidavit.
The question is, what are his lawyers doing about it? The Professor’s comments in the article suggest they may be belatedly barking up the wrong tree.
That depends on what the actual strategy is ( which none of us know because we simply don’t have all the pieces out there and all the “unknowns” yet to come into play)
From my circles and brought out here before- here is a “thought” as to what they are doing and why? ( just a logical “hypothetical” based on questionable information in public so take it for what its worth)
Since we believe Trump had advanced warning- it stands to reason that anything there at the time of the raid was fully known, inventoried and possibly even put there as “enticing bait” so for that reason there is no “hidden damage” that will come from them getting it. (That’s based on the fact Trump and team appear to not be worried about anything from a legal perspective like a “guilty” person would be expected to be)
The Admin/DOJ’s actions simply wreak of fear and desperation. What really makes me believe this is the relative “silence” from the “usual suspects” (Left and RINO).
Our current guess is that Trump is using the media to try his case first
Arminius nailed it with his analysis.
I still view that the FBI and DoJ were using the classified material search as a smoke screen for incriminating evidence on Trump business dealings and that’s a very likely dead-end and Trump would know that. Legally, the Government has just gone out on a very thin limb on a politically motivated fishing expedition..
As to a “strategy” by the Biden Administration, you can’t predict stupid and from what I’ve seen that’s the best adjective. So they hope for political embarassment akin to the Hilary Clinton server fiasco. to sway the ’22 and ’24 elections. Given the polls, the history of the Russian collusion and Hunter’s laptop, it’s grasping at straws as people have their minds made up long ago.
So what’s left is the FBI and DoJ sticking their necks out to curry political favor and demonstrating yet again a political bias bordering on criminal. The bureaucracy and the Biden Administration have yet again provided Trump ammunition to pound them with their own hypocrisy in the press and on the campaign trail..
Not much for the Trump lawyers to do yet as it’s political not legal. If the Feds file suit on retention of classified documents, it will play out as Arminius outlined. If the Feds try to use info from the raid for a trial on Trump business affairs (or hand it off to a state prosecutor), the lawyers will argue insufficient grounds for a search. I doubt either happens.
None of it is surprising at all.
DoJ delenda est.
The Stasi anxiety was the knock in the middle of the night. Our guys don’t knock.
The significance of this WILL NOT be lost by the passage of time.
This is BIG and if true has the potential to take down the left.
I disagree that it will take down the left.
It is likely to take down our Republic, however. Unless it is treated aggressively.
Notice the word POTENTIAL
If the sheeple sit on their collective asses and let the GOPe/RINO caucus handle it then yes, it will be used against us
And your alternative is what?
Try to keep the glow down.
use the VOTE and RID US of the GOPe/RINO at the state level in EVERY branch and state.
In other words, the exact reverse of how we got into this mess.
Remember, we VOTED IN those who are doing this. ( and KEEP DOING IT)
taurus: How do we do that when our most popular “conservative” leader endorses and supports candidates like Mehmet Oz?
@txvet2
You>>>taurus: How do we do that when our most popular “conservative” leader endorses and supports candidates like Mehmet Oz?
Here’s how
Learn the subject, learn the system and become a HIGH INFORMATION VOTER. Stop relying on others to do your thinking for you.
Trump made some bad and questionable choices sure- we all have BUT Donald Trump DID NOT create the situation we are in that put him in the White house.
WE THE SHEEPLE did.
HOLD THOSE ELECTED TO OUR DESIRES AND VOTE THEM OUT IMMEDIATELY WHEN THEY FAIL US.
Then in daily life, work to grow more Americans- challenge all leftist views.
This fight has many front lines- we must fight on all of them ( the enemy is and he is often winning)
Real simple
taurus: We have (well, except for Cornyn, and he’s moved way left since he apparently decided not to run again) pretty much as conservative a representation as exists in the country and Texas has been in the forefront of every fight against this administration. Don’t blame us for what the rest of the country is doing.
@tx
I’m blaming “us” as a whole- no specific group or region
Effectively, it has already taken down the republic. It’s a bell that can’t be unrung. IF Trump (or any Republican) manages to overcome the illegalities and take office in 2024, it doesn’t matter whether they retaliate against the Bidens or not – the next Dem to steal the presidency now has the precedent to persecute members of the preceding administration. Knowing that, how do you manage to get decent people to sign up, and how do you manage to govern?
If you truly believe that then they have won.
Fortunately, plenty of us don’t.
And I think you’re terminally naive.
Nothing takes down the left
They are commies amd believe by any means necessary
They think the constitution is toilet paper
Speak for yourself
The left is NOT 10 ft tall and invincible. They are not all powerful and all knowing.
The fact that the sheeple sleep while they are being taken over is not a testament to the “power” of the left but rather a condemnation of the sheeple.
Sheepdogs live for the wolf.
So, are you a sheeple or a sheepdog?
You are correct, they are none of those things.
However, progressivism has been indoctrinated into a vast majority of the electorate and it’s growing all the time. It’s not that the people are asleep, it’s that they have taken up a different belief system – one called progressivism – that is easier and more pleasant (in terms of hedonism) than the old one.
We have to not just be sheepdogs, but we have to evangelize Christian morals and Americanism. It’s the only way to save the Republic without something horrible intervening.
@GW
I agree 100%
Matthew 24
One at a time, GWB. I spoke with a young man at the landscape supply place yesterday and something was said about the “inflation reduction act”. I laughed, saying you know that has NOTHING to do with reducing inflation, right? Did you know it provides for hiring 87,000 new IRS agents? He was shocked and remarked “I’m moving to Guatamala” or the like. Where the left owns the media outlets and controls the narrative, 1:1 evangelizing is the only way we’ll get the sleepers to wake up and see. The left relies on people sleeping – on keeping them comfortably numb. Where the left says “words are violence” I guess that means we need to beat the hell out of people, verbally.
Funny story – to me anyway. I took my guitar to a harvest party and was sitting around the campfire with a few guys, playing and singing a few tunes we sang at church. All of us seated on hay bales. The guy across from me was a bit too close to the fire and the bale started to catch fire. Between lines I said “your hay is on fire” – in fact, I said it several times while continuing to play and each time he just smiled at me. Finally I stopped playing and shouted directly at him “FIRE!” – he looked down where I pointed, jumped up and put it out. Lesson for me, I guess, is there comes a time where being calm, soft-spoken, not disrupting the vibe, is not good enough to get someone’s attention. And for the guy on the flaming hay bale – pay attention – engage with your surroundings, etc. Absent that, forcibly wake them up.
Also, haybales and fires don’t mix. Use a stump or log instead. 😉
“Where the left says “words are violence” I guess that means we need to beat the hell out of people, verbally.”
The left also says “silence is violence.” Presumably, this authorizes a preferable approach, where we get to beat the hell out of those people silently.
Back in the days I ran a dialup FidoNet BBS, sysops sometimes mused about throwing a “blanket party” for the few abusive trolls that frequented our boards. New to the scene, I asked about it … basically throw a blanket over their heads and stomp the crap out of them. Used sparingly, of course.
I do miss the old days. FidoNet had it’s flame wars in the echoes – but taking 3-4 days to leap-frog across the country via dial-up hubs was a welcome damper on incivility. Not much to be excited about “Up yours!” … the significance of the passage of time … “No! Up yours!”
@txvet2
When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you
Right after you explain which parts of the Constitution you believe still have any force of law. If you don’t want my opinion, don’t post drivel. The fact that people don’t agree with you doesn’t make them sheep – Hell, this is the South. We wrote the book on fighting lost causes.
ALL of it still has the force of law
Tell me, which one doesn’t?
Maybe your cause is lost, that’s your problem.
I’m not a loser- mine isn’t.
Like I said – terminally naive.
I prefer that to being a terminal loser and defeatist.
You must have been in the French Army- they are highly trained and experienced in surrender operations
I seriously don’t know how we’re
going to avoid an armed revolt
They want an armed revolt. They are salivating for it. I’m sure Biden’s DOJ already has the plans finalized for putting down a little revolt, blowing it out of proportion, and declaring Martial Law.
They need a Short, Victorious War. If they can get a half-dozen idiots shepherded into acts of violence by FBI agents and confidential informants, they can blow that up by way of the media-magnifying-glass into an army of frothing right-wing patriarchal white-nationalist militia (fill in the names of a few of their favored enemies here). Then with a hand-picked judge or two signing arrest warrants, send their enemies off to secret concrete camps and isolate them from the world with a trial. It sounds crazy and conspiracy-theory nuts, but it’s starting to look like the Witmer Fednapping and the J6 kangaroo court system is a template.
Probably, but against what or whom?
The People of America are weak
Even Washington only had support of 1/3 of his countrymen
We are below that
Look at how we acted as sheep with China flu ( NOT calling it Covid anymore, it is CHINA flu)
Gideon only had 300 out of 32,000.
Much less than 1/3
And waiting to hear McCarthy amd McConnell blasting the airwaves
Waiting… Bueller…Bueller…
A special master at this point is utterly pointless.
They’ve already looked through everything.
If Trump was tipped off as I strongly believe then they got nothing Trump & team didn’t already leave there for bait so there will probably be no injury from anything they discover.
Trump needs the special master for horsepower, talking points and following the process to be used later.
Oh, and a clip just resurfaced from 2017 where Bitch McConnell says that he asked Trump to make Garland the FBI director.
Tell me more about how ‘grateful’ we should be to this piece of RINO trash for keeping him off the Supreme Court, as if it had anything to do with how McConnell felt about Garland himself.
He and his gangs voter to approve Garland’s appointment to AG so that must have been the deal.
Right.
Keeping Garland off SCOTUS was a no-brainer for the entire GOP base.
And yet the GOPe/RINOs/NeverTrumpers keep lecturing us peasants on how we should be grateful that every once in awhile McConnell does the job he is supposed to do. And for that reason we should support him and all he does, even when he undermines so much of the rest of what the GOP base supports.
McConnell needs to go and he needs to be replaced with someone who supports much, much more of what the GOP base supports. And that person is not Cornyn nor any of the rest of the gang of Uniparty RINO Senators McConnell uses to thwart the will of the GOP base and please his Dem friends.
“According to the Government, the agents seized documents, privileged and/or potentially privileged materials, and other items-including photos, handwritten notes, and even President Trump’s passports2-that were outside the lawful reach of an already overbroad warrant.
According to our resident legal expert, that is not true.
Also, Biden may not have known anything about it but what about Susan Rice her boss Barky Obama?
@ Phil
“not true” is incorrect- “out of context” is correct.
The officer in the search is NOT empowered to make ANY judgement call other than a general recognition call. ( which is why a DA, DAG or other SME will often accompany a warrant in situations like this) Just like an individual soldier is NOT ALLOWED to assess the “lawfulness” of an order except in the RAREST of cases and even then in plain language violations.
Cutting through the media “enhancement” of words used…..
The warrant being over broad- Personally I agree it certainly is BUT it is NOT OVERBROAD UNLESS AND UNTIL A JUDGE RULES IT TO BE (matter of LAW requiring a decision- not a matter of FACT that can be empirically measured)
Outside lawful reach- Fruit of the vine. UNTIL the decision is made on the “specificity” of the warrant above- NO DECISION CAN BE MADE ON WHAT IS AND IS NOT WITHIN THE REACH.
Could the warrant be ruled overly broad and these items exempted? CERTAINLY ( and I hope it is) but it WILL NOT HAPPEN WITHOUT A HEARING AND DECISION. (That has not happened yet and UNTIL IT DOES- the warrant and its fruits ARE LEGAL)
Sadly, in the USA, it has NEVER been any different than this anywhere at any time. This is in spite of all the rhetoric and enhancing words the media uses multiplied by the overall total ignorance on how the law and government actually work exhibited by the sheeple.
Now, let anyone disprove what I just said ( with cites and sources) and when they doesn’t happen… the rest will be obvious.
Hope that clears it up.
Here’s part of why this is significant and where it may lead ( and ALL of this is contingent on information not available yet to the masses so treat it as “hypothetical” for the moment)
There is a question on whether a sitting President can revoke privilege of a former President. (Common law and History say no but there is no actual law, decision or statute specifying)- that’s a subject for debate.
What is NOT open to debate is ex post facto law because the Constitution is clear on this and in plain language.
If Biden did this ( and it can be proven) with knowledge and/or intent to assist a criminal investigation or warrant by his act of removing “privilege” then that’s a High Crime. (mens rea & actus rea)
The President “assumes the role of Congress” as a legislator ( shall make no law….) IF AND WHEN his “removal” of privilege turns an act from legal to suspect under a law. (Spirit of Calder v. Bull)
It should prove very interesting moving forward
I agree in large part with what you said, and while I favor getting rid of Biden and trying him for his crimes, I think that is insufficient. We all know that Biden is at this point non compos mentis, and likely being used/will be used as a scapegoat. Have to chop off the head of the snake if you want a lasting solution.
Well I do believe his “mentis” is composting (if not compostED) but I wholeheartedly agree.
To repeat a line from Aliens
Nuke the site from orbit- its the only way to be sure.
They all have to go but we have to start at Biden
….just don’t mention a constitutional amendment that was added to prevent tyranny.
Terrible
Michigan is fooked
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/jury-finds-2-men-guilty-conspiring-kidnap-michigan-gov-whitmer
The retrial was an utter TRAVESTY of justice.
Bizarrely the defense was limited in their cross examination to no longer than the amount of TIME that the prosecution questioned the same witness.
That’s so far outside normal behavior that it literally boggles my mind that they think this will fool anybody.
But they don’t care. They got their precious conviction, they don’t care if it gets tossed on appeal or not.
I must admit- clearly a rigged deck on this one
Obviously one can’t retroactively waive executive privilege unless one was the asserted it in the first place. That creates a classic ex post facto crime and is unconstitutional.
“Biden was assisting the FBI by taking the controversial step of waiving a predecessor’s executive privilege (it’s legally unclear whether that actually can be done).”
Just the government surrendering more of YOUR rights on your “behalf.” Nothing new to see here.
The “government” doesn’t exist. it is not a sentient entity.
It is a group of HUMANS.
Biden did this ( regardless of his or his masters bidding) so HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE
>> It is a group of HUMANS.
Depending on whether Democrats can truly be considered “human”.
point taken
Yet another impeachable offence committed by Brandon.
If this proves true, it certainly is
Just when you think that the utterly vile Dumb-o-crat apparatchiks have plumbed the lowest depths of lawlessness, subversion of democratic process and general chicanery, they manage to go even lower.
These reprobates are capable of anything, including the only Leftist tactic that they haven’t yet attempted against President Trump — political assassination.
Your last action is probably already on their list of what to do next if they can’t get a conviction on espionage and/or sedition. And maybe even if they do; they will Epstein him.
If they really attempt to try Trump for espionage based on the papers they “stole”, I think he will take it directly to the Supreme Court and they will respond quickly. The sedition charge, probably from the January 6th Democrat kangaroo committee, will probably be a guilty verdict from the crooked D.C. Courts, again with immediate appeal to SCOTUS.
Oh, and we’re supposed to believe the transparent and obvious lie that dotard-marionette, Biden, and his handlers/chaperones/caretakers in the White House geriatric ward, didn’t sign off on this indefensible act of third-world political sabotage and thuggery? The vile Dumb-0-crats really think that we are gullible enough to believe this nonsensical conceit.
@guy
You:The vile Dumb-0-crats really think that we are gullible enough to believe this nonsensical conceit.
So far they have been given little reason to fear, respect or concern themselves with anything we think, say or do.
We best change that and quickly
I concur. We need all hands on deck, ASAP, to put an end to the Dumb-o-crats totalitarian and lawless antics.
Isn’t repealing Trump’s executive privilege a case of *ex post facto*, which is forbidden by the Constitution?
This is Watergate level criminal activity.
Watergate is like kindergarten compared to what has been perpetrated by the republican and democrats in trying to stop Trump.
Re: Appointment of Special Master
I don’t deal with search warrants and privileges very often, but once (in 40 years of practice) my large law firm was the subject of a criminal search warrant. The judge had ordered that the office of the associate in question be sealed, appointed a special master and allowed only the special master access to the office of that attorney, while the special master determined what documents were privileged and which the police/D.A. could see.
One of the criminal defense attorneys in our office dealt with the situation from our perspective, and another was acting for the target attorney. It was very intrusive and disruptive, but it seemed to be well organized and effective. The search of an attorney’s office did not seem to be unheard of.
Do other states (my experience was California) routinely appoint special masters for searches of attorneys? I know DJT is not an attorney, but the issue of privilege might cross occupations, and attorneys get in criminal trouble far more often that ex-presidents do.
Can we retroactively abolish government?
January 20, 2025. POTUS retroactively revokes Biden’s executive privilege.
January 21, 2025. Congress begins questioning Biden’s staff and Cabinet secretaries in televised hearings.
Yeah, as much as that would be delicious Schadenfreude, I’m doubting it happens. I think one great accomplishment of the Biden* administration will be pushing this ‘revocation’ of Presidential Executive Privilege to SCOUTUS, where a 9-0 decision against them by the court establishes solid guidelines for what has been a given up until 2021.
Allowing President B to cancel executive privilege for any ex-President A makes executive privilege absolutely worthless, and hampers any future President’s ability to get honest opinions from his/her advisors.
As regards the judge thinking Trump’s motion should be made in the already-pending case rather than a new case created, what case? Trump isn’t being officially charged so there isn’t any case is there? Or does this mean that Trump needs to apply to the Epstein lawyer who gave the FBI carte blanch to urgently raid his property whenever they felt like getting around to it?
For dotard-marionette, Biden, the DOJ and the FBI to attempt to create a transparently contrived controversy and to conjure up the specter and insinuation of alleged criminality pertaining to a minor records dispute in which not only does President Trump have broad authority over the records at issue, but, with regard to which his attorneys were negotiating in good faith, is simply indefensible and despicable.
The Dumb-o-crats are lawless totalitarians; end of story.
It is hard to get my head around this. They did a massive search of a house for some boxes of paper that were in storage? No one was even looking in the boxes. They want us to think that this was somehow important? They make no case for that.
Well, you see the contents of those boxes were so ultra-super-secret that even to peek inside for a moment would mean certain destruction for the foolish curious searcher. Good God, man. Haven’t you see Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Why do cops get to race with the courts when seizing and examining documents via warrant? If the police can nullify the courts, and by extension the rights of the person whose property has been seized, by the simple expedient of scanning and analyzing the documents faster than the judge can forbid it, then surely the offense to law and justice is obvious.
The police shouldn’t be able to examine a single word of what they’ve seized until all motions, counter-motions, and appeals are exhausted. The evidence isn’t perishable after all.
Since when can Biden waive a privilege that only Trump can waive ?