The “purely private record” is from the opinion you linked, not from you directly - and should have been “materials” not “records”.
FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence, August 8, 2022, Case Dismissed July 15, 2024
Orange Julius Caesar.
Absolutely. This is extremely sensible.
There clearly is a conflict, as the result of your post would be that there is a possibility that Trump does own some of the documents and that this needs to be determined, while the other person is arguing the exact opposite.
The thing is, the other guy has the legal experts on their side, saying that all of these rulings are bad law.
To my knowledge, Trump has made no claim of ownership. Nor have I and nor has Cannon. Or, at least, you’re free to point out the place where someone made the claim.
Which is eggs-ZACKLY why it could never happen.
Yeah he has.
Among their assertions, Mr. Trump’s lawyers have claimed that he could have deemed the most disputed documents — more than 100 records marked as classified — as his own personal property, the National Archives could not second-guess him, and even courts would have “very limited judicial oversight over such categorization.”
He and his lawyers insist they are his personal property. He’s been saying that for quite a while now. Here is an older article.
Former President Donald Trump accused the Justice Department of “criminalizing” his possession of personal documents by investigating the presence of hundreds of highly classified White House records at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump’s lawyers made the broad argument that the Presidential Records Act allows a president to take whatever document he wants.
Yes. That’s no guarantee of anything, however: Cannon has given herself the “right” to remove Dearie at any time, without any visible reason. She could remove him November 29, then decree a process to have new potential Special Masters nominated, then at some time in the future, chosen (by her), then that new SM could be fired at any time–for no reason.
(My bolding and italics.)
The delays will stretch out into many months, no matter what Dearie does.
(Links to the quoted doc and other relevant documents are on the site.)
And it’s possible that Trump/Cannon have built in a reason to remove Dearie. Dearie signed off on the Carter Page FISA application. What are the chances that some of documents that the FBI seized from Mar-a-lago have something to do with the Carter Page FISA? This is an easy fig leaf for Cannon to dismiss Dearie at any point where dismissing him will benefit team Trump.
The article is paywalled so I’m not sure that I’m referencing the correct filing but I’d read it less as “It’s mine” and more as “I’m a lawyer with an idiot as a client, and I am being asked to make explicit, itemized claims on a per-document basis by the US government, but cannot do so because my client has no idea what was seized. But my not knowing what’s there doesn’t change the fact that, in theory, there may be substantive claims on the basis of X, Y, and Z that should be made.”
One of those claims would come from the definition of a “private record” under 44 U.S. Code § 2201. In theory, the government may have judged that a thing falls under the PRA that it should not have.
Trump’s daily diary should NOT show up in the US government public document catalog, because he wrote it on paper with a White House letterhead. While that might not affect whether segments of the diary are used in his trial, it is a unique concern for a former President that a usual criminal does not have. A usual criminal expects that his private materials will be quoted from minimally in court and then either returned to him, destroyed, or kept in a secure facility that no one can access. They don’t have a concern that it goes straight to a library shelf, open to any tabloid reporter in the land. Trump needs to be able to make the claim even if it doesn’t get him the documents back. They are his private records and should not be subject to the PRA.
It is a meaningful and necessary claim that his lawyers conceivably might need to make, and that does merit special consideration.
DOJ has filed a motion requesting a stay of Judge Cannon’s order pending appeal.
Link to Politico hosted copy of filing: https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000183-48f7-dd78-adb3-6dff488e0000
Well, it was a fun scandal while it lasted.
Thanks for posting the link.
If Cannon read that motion, her face should have melted.
Thanks for this! I hadn’t seen the news before I saw it here.
The beginning part, where it names people and entities interested in the outcome…I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before. I’ve never noticed it before, at any rate. Lots of news channels and newspapers (didn’t see Fox on there, though!) along with lawyers and politicians. What’s that about?
Presumably part of the ‘public interest’ argument.
Yeah, in the hearing before Reinhardt about unsealing the affidavit, a bunch of news organizations pled their case. Essentially arguing public interest. I’d guess this is similar, or maybe even those same news organizations are the ones listed in this motion.
If Trump is not claiming ownership, why did he ask for the appointment of a special master to return some of the documents to him?
Delay tactic. Nothing more.
Maybe by his lawyers, I think the orange-faced one actually thinks he owns the documents.
I meant the question rhetorically. Trump’s request for a special master to return some documents to him amounts to a de facto, if not de jure, claim of ownership of those documents.