Just like any other criminal with an expensive team of lawyers, Donald Trump’s legal strategy in the investigation of his illegal theft of highly classified documents from the U.S. government has been to delay, delay, delay everything for as long as possible. Attorneys for the Department of Justice are pushing back against those tactics, calling for a fast-track appeal of the Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling delaying the process of justice.
Prosecutors are particularly frustrated at Cannon’s recent decision to override the special master’s plan, lengthening the review timeline in a way that could stretch into 2023. https://t.co/T2I4T5b4tl
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) October 1, 2022
At issue are documents included in the seizure of evidence from Mar-a-lago that are not deemed classified, documents that Cannon ruled must be withheld from investigators during the special master’s review. While the documents do not present the same danger as those marked classified, they do provide investigators with information they need to determine how the documents may have been illegally transferred to the ex-president’s golf resort and accessed.
According to POLITICO, DOJ officials wrote in the filing that:
‘The government is … unable to examine records that were commingled with materials bearing classification markings, including records that may shed light on, for example, how the materials bearing classification markings were transferred to Plaintiff’s residence, how they were stored, and who may have accessed them. The records not marked as classified may also constitute evidence of potential [obstruction] and [concealment or removal of government records].’
“She has now appointed the special master only to micromanage every phase of the process,” @AshaRangappa_ says following Judge Aileen Cannon’s latest ruling.
“It seems to me that her endgame here is to help Trump.” pic.twitter.com/P5DHKLPOic
— The Katie Phang Show (@katiephangshow) September 30, 2022
Cannon’s earlier ruling would have delayed the review of the documents by DOJ attorneys and investigators until December of 2022 or even into 2023, but the DOJ has asked for a fast-track appeal of that ruling that would allow them to continue their investigation into these documents by mid-November. Attorneys for the DOJ argue that Cannon’s overruling of decisions made by the special master requested by the ex-president and his attorneys is delaying the case unnecessarily.
‘Based on the district court’s orders thus far, the government is barred from accessing all of the materials except those with classification markings recovered in August pursuant to a lawful search warrant — and it may continue to be barred from doing so until mid-December or later…absent such resolution by this Court, the special master proceedings could result in prolonged litigation, including through seriatim appeals to the district court from reports and recommendations and other rulings issued by the special master.’
1/If Judge Cannon was going to continue calling every ball in Trump’s favor, I’m not at all sure why she felt the need to appoint a special master to review the documents the government seized from Mar-a-Lago. https://t.co/1ARFOlOaCn
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) September 30, 2022
The country is still embroiled in turmoil after the divisive years of Trump’s time in the White House, and an end to the explosive case may go a long way toward leading the country back from that turmoil. In the filing, attorneys for the DOJ wrote that:
‘Expediting the appeal would serve the interests of justice because the portions of the district court’s injunction that have not been stayed restrict the government’s ability to vindicate the strong public interest in proceeding expeditiously with the criminal and national security investigation that underlies these proceedings.’
NEW: Justice Dept asks 11th Circuit for expedited review of Cannon's special master ruling — saying if they are successful on appeal, it could make the special master review redundant and allow them to use the 11,000 docs in criminal investigation https://t.co/pXmY0vHMEZ
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 30, 2022
