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.
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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