The Biden Justice Department was told to pound sand by a judge over their motion to continue investigating and reviewing the documents seized during the FBI’s August 8 raid of Mar-a-Lago. Judge Aileen Cannon, a top target for the Left due to her being a Trump nominee, wasn’t convinced by the Department of Justice’s argument that their people not reviewing the records constitutes a national security risk (via Politico):
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday rejected a Justice Department demand to let federal prosecutors continue their review of records marked classified that were recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
In her ruling, Cannon refused to accept department officials’ contention that the records they are trying to review as part of an ongoing criminal investigation remain highly classified or contain extraordinarily sensitive defense information that could damage national security if released.
“The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion,” Cannon, a Trump appointee, wrote in her 10-page ruling denying the Justice Department’s request to essentially exclude about 100 documents marked classified from the special master process.
Cannon instead appointed Raymond Dearie, a senior federal judge in New York, to lead an independent review of the seized materials. He was one of two potential special masters proposed by the Trump team, and prosecutors said they found him acceptable even though he was not one of their initial picks.
In a signed filing released by the court on Thursday night, Dearie accepted the task. Cannon urged him to complete his review by Nov. 30 — more than a month after the Oct. 17 deadline the Justice Department had most recently asked Cannon to set.
It’s a laughable charge on its face. These documents that allegedly included nuclear secrets were said to have remained at the home of former President Donald Trump for 18 months. It becomes a matter of state security when Democrats look like they’re about to get cooked in an election. Second, a June 8 letter by the Biden DOJ ordered Trump’s lawyers to keep all records at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI barged in two months later.
Judge Cannon had issued an injunction against the FBI from further analyzing the documents and granted the Trump legal team’s motion to appoint a special master. There was a fight between the two attorney camps regarding who would make for acceptable candidates. Raymond Dearie, a federal judge from New York and a candidate the Trump team approved, was designated the special master for the Trump Mar-a-Lago documents. He has a deadline of November 30 to review the records.
Good for Judge Cannon.
— ???? Mike Davis ???? (@mrddmia) September 15, 2022
She didn’t cow to the Biden Justice Department’s bullying.
And the 11th Circuit isn’t going to reverse her even-keeled, well-reasoned decision.
The Biden DOJ is clearly terrified another federal judge will check its homework.
What are they hiding? https://t.co/lHtHUO081q
Every President gets to have candid, confidential discussions with aides.
— ???? Mike Davis ???? (@mrddmia) September 16, 2022
Without Congress or courts getting their hands on it.
Executive Privilege.
Presidents can't function without it.
To "get Trump," Biden claimed to waive it.
Special Master will help resolve key dispute.
All presidential records, including those marked as classified, are still protected by a President's claim of Executive Privilege.
— ???? Mike Davis ???? (@mrddmia) September 16, 2022
This idea that classified records cannot be presidential records -- and thus, cannot be protected by Executive Privilege -- is simply legally wrong.