Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
As the Department of Justice seeks to retain access to the myriad documents it seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, the man appointed by the court to determine which documents are and are not available for prosecutorial scrutiny has summoned all parties to New York for an initial conference.
Judge Raymond Dearie, who as previously reported on FISM was chosen from among four nominees to serve as special master over the thousands of documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago, has scheduled his first meeting with representatives of the Justice Department and the Trump team for Tuesday.
The purpose of the meeting, as reported by The Hill, which accessed a court filing, will be to allow both sides to recommend topics for discussion to Dearie, who has been given until Nov. 30 to determine which documents are fair game for DOJ review and which, if any, are protected under attorney-client privilege.
In the meantime, the DOJ is still working to be re-granted access to the documents currently under Dearie’s control.
On Friday, the Justice Department filed a partial appeal in the 11th Circuit asking that prosecutors be allowed access to the documents citing national security concerns.
“Although the government believes the district court fundamentally erred in appointing a special master and granting injunctive relief, the government seeks to stay only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public by (1) restricting the government’s review and use of records bearing classification markings and (2) requiring the government to disclose those records for a special-master review process,” the filing reads.
The word “only” might lead the reader to think that the DOJ wishes access to a small number of important documents or some portion of the documents, but this would be inaccurate.
In partially appealing the ruling in which Dearie was appointed, the Justice Department is seeking access to all documents, each of which the Justice Department argues is or could be of vital importance and could cause “irreparable injury” to the United States government and the general public.
“By enjoining the review and use of the records bearing classification markings for criminal-investigative purposes, the district court’s order impedes the government’s efforts to protect the Nation’s security,” the filing reads.“The records here are not merely relevant evidence; they are the very objects of the offense.”
The Justice Department also argues, “even if an assertion of privilege might justify withholding the records at issue from Congress or the public, there would be no basis for withholding them from the Executive Branch itself.”
Trump has maintained that he is innocent of all wrongdoing and that Democrats, at the behest of President Joe Biden, are seeking to harm him.
Saturday, speaking at a rally in Ohio, Trump had no shortage of venom for the left (and some long-serving Republicans) on topics ranging from inflation to crime to the security of the southern border.
He also lashed out at Democrats, who Trump accused of “trying for six years to get me,” but boasted, “They haven’t made it, and we’re not going to let it happen.”
“No matter what our sick and deranged political establishment throw at me, no matter what they do to me, I will endure their torment and oppression, and I will do it very willingly,” Trump said. “They will never get me to stop fighting for you, the American people. And I will never quit because the fate of our country is at stake.”