Attorneys working to Friday deadline over ‘special master’Lawyers for Donald Trump are conferring with justice department counterparts to come up by Friday with a list of possible candidates to be the “special master” approved by a district court judge over the former president’s hoarding of classified documents.
Aileen Cannon’s surprise ruling on Monday has delayed the department’s inquiry into Trump’s possession of government documents at his Florida residence. Some law experts are pointing out the “deeply problematic” nature of the decision, and the fact it was made by a jurist appointed by Trump himself.
Samuel W Buell, a Duke University law professor, told the New York Times in an email:
To any lawyer with serious federal criminal court experience who is being honest, this ruling is laughably bad, and the written justification is even flimsier.
Donald Trump is getting something no one else ever gets in federal court, he’s getting it for no good reason, and it will not in the slightest reduce the ongoing howls that he is being persecuted, when he is being privileged.
Cannon’s deadline of Friday doesn’t give much time for the two sides to agree candidates to act in the role of independent arbiter, typically a retired lawyer or judge, to go through material seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion.
They will look be looking for any that might be beyond the scope of the warrant or protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege.
The attorneys must submit a joint filing to the court by Friday.
As the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell and Victoria Bekiempis report, a special master was used, for instance, to review materials seized in the searches of the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former attorneys – Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen.
Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, also called the special master request a “crock of shit”, in an interview with the New York Times.
In a subsequent interview with Fox News, Barr said: “Even if [the documents] are subject to executive privilege, they still belong to the government. And any other documents that were seized… those were seize-able under the warrant”.
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Developments in the justice department investigation into Donald Trump’s stashing of classified documents have been prominent in recent days, but let’s not forget the former president faces legal jeopardy on multiple fronts.
One such place is Georgia, where Trump infamously urged election officials to “find” him enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory, and there are movements there today.
According to the Washington Post, election deniers seeking evidence for Trump made multiple visits to a county elections office now the subject of a criminal investigation for an after-election breach of voting machinery.
The newspaper has published video of what it says is technology consultants Doug Logan and Jeffrey Lenberg visiting the office in Coffee county. It says the two men are under investigation for separate alleged breaches of voting machines in Michigan.
The newspaper also implicates one of the county’s senior Republican party officials:
“Cathy Latham, a teacher and then-chairwoman of the county Republican party, greeted a group of outside data forensics experts when they arrived at the elections office shortly before noon on the day of the alleged breach.
“Latham has said in sworn testimony that she taught a full day of school that day and visited the elections office briefly after classes ended.
“She was one of 16 Republicans who signed certificates declaring Trump the rightful winner of the 2020 election as part of the ‘fake electors’ scheme now under investigation by federal and state prosecutors.
Attorneys working to Friday deadline over ‘special master’Lawyers for Donald Trump are conferring with justice department counterparts to come up by Friday with a list of possible candidates to be the “special master” approved by a district court judge over the former president’s hoarding of classified documents.
Aileen Cannon’s surprise ruling on Monday has delayed the department’s inquiry into Trump’s possession of government documents at his Florida residence. Some law experts are pointing out the “deeply problematic” nature of the decision, and the fact it was made by a jurist appointed by Trump himself.
Samuel W Buell, a Duke University law professor, told the New York Times in an email:
To any lawyer with serious federal criminal court experience who is being honest, this ruling is laughably bad, and the written justification is even flimsier.
Donald Trump is getting something no one else ever gets in federal court, he’s getting it for no good reason, and it will not in the slightest reduce the ongoing howls that he is being persecuted, when he is being privileged.
Cannon’s deadline of Friday doesn’t give much time for the two sides to agree candidates to act in the role of independent arbiter, typically a retired lawyer or judge, to go through material seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion.
They will look be looking for any that might be beyond the scope of the warrant or protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege.
The attorneys must submit a joint filing to the court by Friday.
As the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell and Victoria Bekiempis report, a special master was used, for instance, to review materials seized in the searches of the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former attorneys – Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen.
Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, also called the special master request a “crock of shit”, in an interview with the New York Times.
In a subsequent interview with Fox News, Barr said: “Even if [the documents] are subject to executive privilege, they still belong to the government. And any other documents that were seized… those were seize-able under the warrant”.
Read more:
Good morning politics blog readers! It’s the day after Labor Day, exactly nine weeks until the midterm elections, and the Senate is back in session after its summer recess.
But once again it’s Donald Trump dominating the headlines, and his legal victory on Monday granting him a third-party special master to review highly classified documents and other materials seized by the FBI from his Florida mansion last month.
The decision by district court judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, is expected to delay the justice department’s investigation into the former president’s hoarding of US government documents at his private residence.
Negotiations are likely to begin today between lawyers for Trump and the justice department over who the special master will be. Cannon has set a deadline of Friday.
Here’s what we’re watching elsewhere:
The Senate has a sizable workload after its month-long break, including a funding bill to keep the government running into the fall. Democrats are attempting to tie such a bill to same-sex marriage protections, according to Punchbowl, which could force the hand of a number of moderate Republicans seen as sympathetic.
Joe Biden has a lighter schedule today after three trips to the swing state of Pennsylvania in six days, in which he spelled out the dangers to democracy posed by election-denying Maga Republicans. He is set to host a cabinet meeting this afternoon.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will deliver her daily briefing at noon.
With Labor Day over, campaign season for the midterms has started in earnest. Politico has revealed its predictions nine weeks before polling day: the Senate is a toss-up, and the House is still leaning Republican.