This story about #Trump and the #ClassifiedDocuments isn't getting much traction but the Bulwark really lats out why it should be. Please share and spread it around.
The #DOJ policy statement on when officers can use #LethalForce —misrepresented by Trump & his supporters as proof of an assassination plot at #MarALago —was also in the paperwork for the consensual search the #FBI conducted of #POTUS Biden’s Wilmington home, looking for #ClassifiedDocuments.
A Tues evening fundraising email from #Trump’s campaign &signed in his name arrived w/the subj, "They were authorized to shoot me!" & said of the #Biden admin, "You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable ... Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger."
Trump also wrote on TruthSocial:
"Joe Biden's DOJ, in their Illegal & UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE."
4 months after the #FBI raided #MarALago, Trump’s attys discovered 4 docs marked #classified in his personal bedroom.
That revelation was among several cited by US District Judge Beryl Howell in a newly unsealed 2023 opinion that found prosecutors had presented compelling #evidence that #Trump#knowingly stashed #NationalSecurity docs in his home & then tried to conceal them when the #DOJ tried to retrieve them.
Throughout the opinion, Howell — who was chief judge of the Washington, DC federal district court at the time — described w/varying degrees of incredulity how 4 documents w/ classification markings could have been discovered in #Trump’s private quarters months after prosecutors had subpoenaed them & the #FBI conducted its own exhaustive search of the property.
“Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago,” Howell wrote.
In a footnote, #Howell also noted that another #Trump adviser connected to his SaveAmerica #PAC had acknowledged scanning the contents of the box that contained the #classified materials in 2021 & storing them on a personal laptop provided by the PAC.
Howell’s opinion was unsealed along w/a large batch of other previously secret grand jury-related docs stemming from the investigation into #Trump for withholding reams of #ClassifiedDocuments after leaving office in 2021, incl’g some of the nation’s most sensitive #MilitarySecrets. US Dist Judge #AileenCannon, a Trump appointee based in #Florida, released the batch of docs Tues after lengthy negotiations w/ #JackSmith’s team & Trump’s lawyers over redactions.
Related: Chief Judge Boasberg denied#Trump “body man” #WaltNauta’s request to transfer some #GrandJury materials from DC to #Florida, says #Nauta failed to make specific case.
#Trump’s #Florida trial for mishandling #ClassifiedDocuments & #obstruction of govt efforts to retrieve them has been pushed back indefinitely, #AileenCannon ruled Tues, increasing the chance that Trump’s NY #criminal trial may be the ONLY ONE to happen before the #election.
The judge originally set the trial for late May & heard arguments on March 1 about when it should be — w/Trump’s lawyers pushing for after the election, or no earlier than Aug.
Ridiculous that #AileenCannon says that there are "novel & difficult" #CIPA issues when her delays have meant the CIPA issues have barely been considered by the court. The only section of CIPA she has considered was §4, which is straightforward.
#NealKatyal says while #JackSmithcould appeal #AileenCannon’s decision, it’s unlikely that he will. The writ of mandamus standard is too high a bar for removal & #DOJ is loathe to cast aspersions on any judge.
He’s more optimistic about the possibility of #Trump’s #Jan6 case getting scheduled now that the #ClassifiedDocuments case is indefinitely delayed.
Latest reminder that the Trump stolen-classified-documents case judge is effectively a member of the defense team:
"Judge Pushes Back Critical Filing Deadline in Trump Documents Case
"Judge Aileen M. Cannon did not immediately set a new date, but the delay increases the chance that the trial will not happen before the November election."
#Trump Was Warned to Return Records to Archives, Unsealed Documents Say
“Whatever you have, give everything back — let them come here & get everything,” the unnamed associate told Trump, acc/to an interview the person gave the FBI “Don’t give them a noble reason to indict you, because they will.”
US District Court Judge #AileenCannon agreed Tuesday to end a long-running dispute w/prosecutors over whether government-agent witnesses in #Trump’s #ClassifiedDocuments#criminal#trial should be publicly identified in court filings.
Her order was the 2nd time this month she has criticized #DOJ lawyers while ruling mostly in their favor.
“Separately, to the extent the #SpecialCounsel demands an anticipatory finalization of #JuryInstructions prior to #trial, prior to a charge conference, & prior to the presentation of trial defenses & evidence, the Court declines that demand as unprecedented & unjust….“
Tues night, prosecutors told Judge #AileenCannon who is overseeing Trump’s #ClassifiedDocuments case that a “fundamentally flawed” order she had issued was causing #delays & asked her to quickly resolve a critical dispute about one of #Trump’s defenses — leaving them time to appeal if needed.
In their filing, prosecutors in #SpecialCounsel, #JackSmith’s office, all but begged Judge #AileenCannon to move the case along & make a binding decision about one of #Trump’s most brazen claims: that he cannot be prosecuted for having taken home a trove of #NationalSecurity docs after leaving office bc he transformed them into his own personal property under…the PRA.
The prosecutors derided that assertion as “not based on any facts,” adding that it was a “justification that was concocted more than a year after” #Trump left the WH.
“It would be pure fiction,” the prosecutors wrote, “to suggest that highly #ClassifiedDocuments created by members of the #intelligence community & #military & presented to the president of the United States during his term in office were ‘purely private.’”
The cases #Trump is facing charge him w/ #FalsifyingRecords to allegedly cover up a #HushMoney payment to an adult-film actress during the 2016 presidential election; mishandling #ClassifiedDocuments & #obstruction of government efforts to retrieve them; & #ElectionInterference in the 2020 presidential election. #LocalAuthorities brought 2 of the cases against Trump w/no evidence of coordination, & a #SpecialCounsel acting independently of the WH brought the 2 federal cases against him.
US District Judge #AileenCannon’s ultimatum Mon night came as a surprise twist in what could have been a simple order; one merely asking federal prosecutors & Trump’s lawyers for proposed #JuryInstructions at the upcoming #trial.
But as she has done repeatedly, #Cannon used this otherwise innocuous #legal step as yet another way to swing the case wildly in favor of the man who appointed her while he was president.
Trump lawyers tried to convince federal Judge #AileenCannon to throw out the charges against him.
Judge Cannon heard from prosecutors & defense lawyers about Trump’s [BS] claim that he is protected from prosecution by the #PresidentialRecordsAct. #NationalSecurity#law experts say Trump’s arguments about the records act misstate the law.