Yesterday, the Malignant Loser and his crack F Team of lawyers (insurance claim lawyer, parking garage company lawyer, etc.) filed a motion to have a special master appointed to review classified materials seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago on August 8. Steve Benen:
It might be tempting to scrutinize the filing as if it were a serious legal document, submitted in a credible way. That would be a mistake. Orin Kerr, a conservative law professor at UC Berkeley, noted overnight that many actual lawyers “are giggling at Trump’s motion, and how poorly it was done.”
The chortles are understandable. Team Trump’s court filing is a mess.
Among the many problems is the fact that it’s oddly late. The FBI executed its search warrant on Monday, Aug. 8. At that point, federal law enforcement officials reclaimed classified materials the former president brought to his glorified country club, taking stock of what he improperly took. Two weeks later, Trump’s lawyers went to court, apparently in the hopes that the FBI would stop reviewing the documents.
The idea that the FBI’s search was “shockingly aggressive” is even more difficult to take seriously. The Justice Department tried a series of lesser means, including subpoenas and in-person meetings in the hope of avoiding this step. When Team Trump refused to cooperate, the FBI went to court, obtained a search warrant, and executed it in the least aggressive way possible: The bureau sent plain-clothed agents who coordinated in advance with the Secret Service. [snip]
Perhaps most entertaining was an accompanying written statement from Trump, which read in part, “This Mar-a-Lago Break-In, Search, and Seizure was illegal and unconstitutional, and we are taking all actions necessary to get the documents back, which we would have given to them without the necessity of the despicable raid of my home, so that I can give them to the National Archives until they are required for the future Donald J. Trump Presidential Library and Museum.” (Ed.: referring, perhaps, to this presidential liebery)
Giggles and chortles notwithstanding, don't underestimate the potential for District Court Judge -- Federalist Society, Malignant Loser- appointed -- Aileen Cannon, who's in a different District than the District where the magistrate sits, to rule in his favor (if the case isn't transferred). The Malignant Loser thinks he has a ringer in Judge Cannon, and he may be right.
Also, never underestimate the willingness of the ever- gullible "mainstream" corporate media to treat this motion as serious, and not a delaying tactic -- a time- honored maneuver by the Trump Organization crime boss when the law's closing in.
Marcy Wheeler offers those challenged media types the real way to frame the Malignant Loser's motion, depending on their beat:
Again, here are three competent headlines from this filing:
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 22, 2022
If you're a horse race journalist...
TRUMP FAILS DELIVER PROMISED FOURTH AMENDMENT CHALLENGE.
If you're a legal journalist:
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 22, 2022
TRUMP LAWYERS ADMIT HE VIOLATED ESPIONAGE ACT.
If you really want to get to the newsworthy bits:
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 22, 2022
TRUMP CONFESSES HIS LAWYER THREATENED ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND.
Those are your choices.
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 22, 2022
"Trump asks for special review"? That's not real!?!?!
If that were real we would have been here 2 weeks ago.
In a normal, sane world we would never have been here, but now that we are, the proposition that institutions (legal, media) will not protect us from autocracy will be put to the test, yet again.
