Special Master Chastises Trump's Legal Team With Now-Viral 'Cake' Comment

No, it’s really that simple.

If the government says something is classified, then it is classified.

 

That's presuming that the documents are actually classified. If Trump declassified them and declared them to be personal records then the whole DoJ argument falls apart. Basically, this request by the special master is asking the parties to act on an issue that has yet to be litigated.

 

No, its not. The entire reason that trump demanded a special master was to pronounce on what was classified and what was not.
Anything marked is classified, until and unless someone presents evidence otherwise. So his report is going to stress that anything marked is classified, since trump waived his right to object.
Which means all that **** is going to the review team if its got a marking on it.

This was his golden opportunity to lay out his magic declassification argument.

 

They are classified because the government says they are classified.

Trump has to show that he declassified. he can't/wont. So they remain classified.

The special master isn't even going to look at them.

 

https://www.reuters.com/legal/new-y...-documents-fbi-seized-trumps-home-2022-09-20/
“If the government gives me prima facie evidence (a legal term meaning a fact presumed to be true unless disproved) that this is classified, and you decide not to advance a claim of declassification … as far as I’m concerned that’s the end of it,” Judge Dearie

No, and neither have you, and you don't know squat, you're just making **** up.

It's a ruse because Trump has no evidence he declassified, or he would produce it. His lawyer is just tap dancing, as he did for Cannon, and she took the bait, well Dearie isn't. He's made of sterner stuff.

Irrelevant to Dearie's request.

 

Trump and Trump's legal team are now having "buyer's remorse."

 

The onus is always on whoever makes the claim. Even Dearie stated 'you brought the suit', meaning the onus is on Trump.
Now, 'burden' can shift on a counter claim, but no counter claim by Dearie has been offered.

I don't know if Dearie intended to call Trump's bluff, but that is the practical effect. Without the proof, Dearie stated 'that's the end of it' and 'he's going to rule' and presumably not in Trump's favor.

 

The thing is, let's say that Trump does declare declassification. What 'proof' could Trump offer that would be acceptable to Dearie? I think how the Trump team wanted it to go, is for the SM to declare which ones were classified or not, and then to stake claims on each individual item as it became relevant.

In other words, they wanted the files to be sorted through in court later. Were this any other normal claims case, this is probably how it would go down.

 

Here's a question. Why does Trump and his team publicly say the documents were classified but in court won't tell the SM whether or not that is the case let alone showing evidence to prove their claim?

 

The issue of whether seized documents are classified or not IS NOT the purpose of the special master. The order was for the special master to sort out attorney client material and executive privilege material.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22275109-specialmaster_order0905

 

Proof? Any of the normal protocols: the biggest one being Memorialization of the declassification with the original Classification authority. If he didn't have that then affidavits from witnesses Contemporaneous conversations notes et cetera.

However none of that will save him from prosecution because 793 doesn't depend on classification it depends on damage assessments by the DNI

 

EO 13526.
I'd link it but on my phone. All you ever need to know about the classification/declassification process.

 

They did. The Search Warrant specified what documents the DOJ was after.

 

Frogshit!

Prima facie, a document bearing official characteristics and marked, for example, 'Top Secret' is classified. Over to Dear Leader Humpty to show otherwise. That is what this Judge is saying to the Numpty's cardboard cut-outs.

 

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.go...rder-classified-national-security-information

Yeh having BTDTB..several t shirts I recognize when someone is trying to snowball me

Gross oversimplification of possible, or even probable necessary 'process'.
What Drearie said is not cast in concrete.

I got the impression dearies request was irrelevant to his purpose in this matter.

dood! judges dont make claims or counterclaims unless its their personal case.

Not necessarily is that the end of the line however.

I agree with this from what I scanned so far.

While I agree with you in part, again far too many variables and you are grossly oversimplifying the matter, again.

 

I see that, someone posted the file numbers, and when the FBI looked around the 15 boxes they seen more that were classified which is what prompted the fisa request.

I get the impression the trumpster got in a pissing contest with them. Whats not clear is if he would have turned everything over upon first request none of this would have happened, or if, or how much of this would have rolled out the same way simply because he removed the docs in the first place even though he sitting in the chair.

Last I heard the CIA is still forwarding top secret CIA intelligence reports to bush.

 

We'll never know as he did not turn them over. However, my guess is that the DOJ/Archives would have said, 'Thanks....yer a naughty boy,' and it likely would have ended there.

 

TRUMP SOLVED IT

Trump: I could declassify documents by thinking about it
The former president insisted in an interview with Sean Hannity that the documents at issue in the Mar-a-Lago probe were all declassified. Evidence, he added, isn’t really needed.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/...ssify-documents-by-thinking-about-it-00058212

 

Granted I have only had the opportunity to review a couple drops in the ocean so far on this case, but what I have seen so far its hard for me not to lean that direction. It looks like he was ****ing with them, or simply disregarded their requests out of hand. What a cluster ****.

 

You’re completely wrong. All the DOJ would have to prove is that the documents WERE classified. If trump wanted to raise a positive defense that their status changed, the burden will be on him to prove the change.

 

...Does Classification Even Matter?

All that said, there is an even more fundamental reason why Trump’s claims of declassification are likely to fall short as a legal defense. While there are criminal statutes that hinge on classification, they aren’t among the criminal offenses that the FBI included on the search warrant. To the contrary, all three of the criminal provisions that the FBI did list can be—and two routinely are—applied to misconduct that has absolutely nothing to do with classified information, making it unclear whether Trump’s claims of declassification would make any difference even if true.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/does-it-matter-what-if-anything-trump-declassified

‘The files were declassified’ is a political argument, not a legal one

As has been noted in the past, at no point in any of the three does the word “classified” appear. What is alleged, it seems, is not that Trump had classified material but that he was in possession of material that was property of the government. The Presidential Records Act establishes that the product of Trump’s time as president is generally not his, but the office’s. His decision to bring it with him is, by itself, a potential violation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/16/trump-fbi-search-classified-documents/

NO PAYWALL LINK
https://archive.ph/8C0JN

 

Trump would be smart to play this out for as long as he can. Time is on his side not the Democrats who are concerned with this November's election and 2024. Democrats need a win desperately. I thought the FBI and the DOJ had this all wrapped up after the raid? Clearly this is not a cut and dry case after all.

 

My question is why does he need them when he's barred from security meetings between Biden and other former POTUSes? There is no justification that is legal.

Secondly, why isn't he omnipotent since he's their Orange Lord and Savior? Shouldn't he already know everything from the beginning of time?

 

Yes, but he works in mysterious ways.

 

Unfortunately for the Democrats time is not on their side. Chop chop, November elections are right around the corner. We all know how desperate Democrats are for a win.