The logo is supposed to look like the scales of justice but it actually looks like a sad face with a bullet hole in its forehead.
FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence, August 8, 2022, Case Dismissed July 15, 2024
The slogan/motto is quite something. I bet it impressed individual one client.
“That’s the tough guy talk that will win this case!”
Asking Trump what he declassified is perfectly legitimate, because if he had actually declassified anything, he would know what it was. He might accidentally include some things in the list that weren’t taken, but since they’re all declassified, that wouldn’t be a problem.
But of course, he has no clue what he’s supposed to claim that he declassified, because he never actually did it.
He’s scraping the bottom of the barrel now, in terms of legal help.
And one more time, and I can’t stress this enough. The classification status of documents does not matter at all for some of the crimes DOJ is investigating.
Trump and his lawyers have been pretending it matters, but that’s misdirection.
For example:
The documents with classification markings, regardless of whether they are currently classified, were responsive to the subpoena from May. Their existence at Mar-a-lago in August is evidence of a crime.
The same way Trump was pretending that he was being prosecuted for how messy he kept the documents, and that they were left spread out on the floor in a slobby fashion.
Ayup.
To be found guilty of violating the Espionage Act does NOT require that the information be classified. It only requires that the information be capable of compromising the national security of the US.
Trump declassifying the documents – even if he DID – doesn’t preclude a violation of the Espionage Act.
Simply “failing to surrender” sensitive government information when properly asked by a government official to do so is a violation of the Espionage Act.
And then there are the possible Obstruction of Justice issues, of course.
[This is moving so slowly, in macro, that it is wise to repeat a few basic things periodically]
I have Chris Hayes on right now and he was just talking the Trump team declining to tell the special master which documents, if any, Trump claims to have declassified and he is gobsmacked that the Trump somehow just keeps delaying without even attempting to make an argument that the DOJ doesn’t have a right to any document in particular.
“Someone on the Trump team has to make an argument at some point that document A belongs to Trump, right?” Or words to that effect.
I wonder if Cannon floated the whole special master scheme to team trump to begin with. Anything to stall. I’m waiting for the time all stall tactics have been exhausted, and he resorts to a medical emergency.
This is true, but the timing on this one matters. It signals that the Eleventh isn’t going to fuck around with matters of national security and they intend to rule quickly. It’s rare for a briefing schedule to issue over a weekend. Rare for the briefing schedule to be so abbreviated. To many, it hints that Trump’s chances of prevailing on DOJ’s request for a stay are practically nil.
The Eleventh can put an end to all this nonsense by the end of the week. They just might. All they have to do is clearly point out that the 100-ish documents are the property of the national security agencies that generated them and that retention of those documents by anyone else poses a threat to national security. That’s it.
Judge Dearie can take his time to go through the rest of the documents. Most will fall under the Presidential Records Act and be ordered back to the National Archives. A few, which DOJ has already filtered out per their own taint team, will be returned to Trump under attorney-client privilege.
Trump’s only hope is for delay, and the Eleventh has indicated they’re not down with it.
Agreed. This is a good sign.
When you Google the firm, you get this in the result:
“At the intersection of interactive gaming and government regulation, one law firm stands out.”
I guess they would know a lot about high stakes, so they’ve got that going for them.
But - his lawyer certifies that he has every interest in proceeding expeditiously! 
That one caught my attention because I remembered him, years ago, defending how messy he is. He seemed to think being messy is one of the things that makes you successful and was proud of how messy he was. All those documents spread out on the floor like that would have jived with his previous statements. Plus, it would have given him a bonus opportunity to lie for absolutely no reason at all.
Somewhere, the Cyber Ninjas – channeling Butch and Sundance – are quietly asking each other … “Who are those guys?”
I haven’t seen this noted anywhere, but it pretty much forecloses any defense by Trump that he didn’t know he was committing a crime by keeping the classified materials.
Gift link.
From the article:
The lawyer, Eric Herschmann, sought to impress upon Mr. Trump the seriousness of the issue and the potential for investigations and legal exposure if he did not return the documents, particularly any classified material, the people said.
The account of the conversation is the latest evidence that Mr. Trump had been informed of the legal perils of holding onto material that is now at the heart of a Justice Department criminal investigation into his handling of the documents and the possibility that he or his aides engaged in obstruction.
Trump’s lawyers won’t answer the special master’s question about which documents Trump supposedly declassified because they are saving that answer for after he is indicted. So they are saving a defense that isn’t a defense (many of Trump’s own former staff have already crapped all over the idea of this declassification protocol that wasn’t written down or communicated to anyone at the time) for when Trump is actually facing charges. They are going to just declare that it was okay for him to do because he’s Donald Trump. Well, they got paid up front so I guess anything is worth a shot at this point.
United States District Court Eastern District of New York Judge DEARIE, RAYMOND Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Courtroom 10A S
02:00 PM
22cv 81294
Civil Cause for Preliminary Conference In-person proceeding Court Reporter Needed
Remote Access Dial In: (571)353-2301, Access code: 620191294
I don’t know how to post a picture. Judge Dearie has opened tomorrow’s hearing to the public with a public access dial in.