Thanks for sharing the WaPo piece. Here’s more evidence it may be just a formality:
(Gift link.)
This isn’t what’s happening so your hunger for convincing is likely to remain unsated.
Wow, love that this article points out how trump’s attorneys seem confused about whether they are asserting executive (which should be no longer trump’s to claim) or attorney-client privilege.
On top of that, anything covered by executive privilege is, by definition, property of the government. His attorneys are asking for privileged materials to be returned to Trump while also asking for a special master to determine that those materials do not belong to Trump.
Well then, if that’s the case then all those materials that would be protected by attorney client privilege would be clearly marked as such and there’s no need for a special master. If Trump claimed such documents existed then the judge should have ordered the DOJ to return them immediately.
ETA: Well look at that! The linked article says all attorney-client privileged material have already been put aside there is nothing for Trump to claim in regard to that. Otherwise, executive privilege doesn’t apply to evidence of crimes, so nothing there to see either.
Advice to all: If you don’t want the government seizing your private materials don’t store them in the same place as the top secret documents you stole from the government.
I can’t figure out what you’re even getting at.
No one is, “[D]eclaring materials to have attorney-client privilege at random,” so no one will be available to convince you that the subject of a search can start doing that.
Perhaps what is meant is that someone is erroneously (not randomly, there is a reason for doing it) declaring that some of the materials have attorney-client privilege, without specifying which documents they are. Which doesn’t seem too far off the mark.
And I believe that there might be some plausibility in this case, which isn’t the case in every investigation. It’s possible that some of the materials seized contained communications between Trump and legal counsel.
From the NYT article:
“Judge Cannon asked them, in a rare rebuke, to send her clarifications about what precisely they were asking for and why she should handle the case and not Judge Bruce E. Einhart, who handled the unsealing of the warrant.”
So, what were the clarification and why, exactly, did she not simply refer them back to Einhart? Is this document public?
That’s what I want to know.
The document is public. I quoted from it earlier.
Link:
And the judge’s reply:
What I don’t get is how the Special Master (why didn’t they get Cecil, the Perfect Master?) is going to review this evidence when so much of it is highly classified. Does the Special Master need to have a pretty high security clearance?
Any claim for executive privilege should be tossed immediately. He isn’t the executive and has no privilege. There could be a case made for attorney client privilege for some documents but not that’s not what the warrant was about anyway. It’s just a delay tactic and a chance for this judge to show here loyalty to Agent Orange.
So, Einhart is a Magistrate and not a District Judge and cannot rule on this specific type of motion. If that’s true, OK. It’s all just a stall, in any case. The Feds have looked at everything they wanted to. If they are to believed, potential lawyer/client stuff has been separated and not reviewed by the investigative team. Also, it wasn’t the target of the search. I think Trump and his team are hoping the public focuses on alleged bad behavior and ignores the bigger picture. Trumpers are sure to do just that. Everyone else, not so much. I assume the more detailed inventory will be provided to Trump. I’ll also assume that Trump doesn’t even know exactly what he had and is now trying to find out.
I noticed the DOJ didn’t raise it as an issue in their responsive pleading, so I guess there is some basis for the issue being before this Trump-appointed judge. It’s the ones on the Trump side I have difficulty trusting, but I do trust Garland and his team, so if an objection wasn’t raised as to the matter being properly before this Florida judge, I’ll accept there was some reason for that.
Taint teams are commonly used in documents cases, so what DOJ did is proper and expected. Appointing a special master at this point would be a waste of time and a stalling tactic. So she will probably do it.
I was in the other room when Mr. brown was watching news stories on television about this subject, and I kept thinking the pundits were saying “Special Bastard”.
I assume the request for a special master is it adds another person to try to influence, perhaps by threatening their family, or other such things. The more people Trump can bring in the greater his chance of successfully influencing them.
This. That’s all it ever is.
That position is already filled.
That’s hilarious! I laughed out loud – and am still giggling!!
Yes.
People who are qualified and cleared to do this work don’t grow on trees. Could have been an effective delaying tactic if they didn’t wait so long to file their special master request motion.
Another wrinkle on the attorney client privilege side of things… at least two of Trump’s attorneys (Corcoran and Bobb, maybe more) may have participated in obstructing this investigation. It’s possible that communication involving these two is not attorney client privileged due to the crime fraud exception.
DOJ has replied to Judge Cannon: Do J Filing Special Master | PDF
They have already completed their review.
Although the government will provide the Court more detail in its forthcoming supplemental filing, the government notes that, before the Court issued its Preliminary Order, and in accordance with the judicially authorized search warrant’s provisions, the Privilege Review Team (as described in paragraphs 81-84 of the search warrant affidavit) identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information, completed its review of those materials, and is in the process of following the procedures set forth in paragraph 84 of the search warrant affidavit to address potential privilege disputes, if any.
This attempt to delay will not slow DOJ down at all. Let that be a lesson to future criminals. Don’t wait three weeks to start your delay tactic