Corrupt Judicial Bias by Trump Appointed Judge.

[Gunnar]

Trump-appointed-judge Aileen Cannon grants Trump's demand for special master BEFORE DOJ weighs in

There are some fundamental principles and universal rules by which America courts operate. One of those fundamental principles is that a judge does not rule on an issue until hearing from both parties involved in the litigation.

Apparently Trump appointed judge Aileen Cannon does things a little differently. Donald Trump's legal defense team filed a largely incompetent motion demanding that Judge Cannon appoint a special master to review the documents the were seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago pursuant to a judicially authorized search warrant - documents that Trump and company stole from the federal government and unlawfully concealed at Trump's home in Florida.

Without even waiting for the reply from the federal prosecutors at the Department of Justice, Judge Cannon issued an order on Saturday stating
" . . . the court hereby provides notice of its preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case."

This order - entered after hearing form ONLY ONE PARTY TO THE LITIGATION - exposes Judge Cannon to be, at best, a judge with extraordinarily poor judgment and, at worst, irredeemably biased in favor of Donald Trump. It's also worth noting that Judge Cannon was appointed by Trump, and was confirmed by Mitch McConnell's Senate AFTER Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.

How can this action by Aileen Cannon not be attributed to extremely poor judgement, incompetence and/or blatant bias on Trump's behalf? Isn't it glaringly obvious that this action has no real purpose other than further delaying fully legitimate investigation and consideration of Trump's alleged criminal actions and obstruction of justice? I think Trump is desperately trying to delay indictment and probably being brought to trial for his crimes until after he can manage to secure for himself nomination for and (hopefully) attainment of the Presidency in 2024, after which he hopes he will have sufficient power and influence to immunize himself from legitimate prosecution for any or all crimes he committed during and before his presidency.

At the very least, Judge Cannon should have recused herself from acting on any decisions about or for the behalf of Trump, given the fact that Judge Cannon was appointed by Trump, and was confirmed by Mitch McConnell's Senate AFTER Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.

[Binger]

What is corrupt?

[Doctor Steuss]

I'm likely about to expose my naïvété.

I'm afraid I don't see what the big deal is with the appointment of a special master, beyond a waste of tax-payer dollars. The DOJ's filter team has already reviewed everything. The purpose for the warrant was seemingly to see if there were classified materials still being kept by Trump. There were, and they have been recovered.

Is there some bizarre reason to think that a court-appointed third party with the relevant clearance levels would look at a marked government classified document, and say "errrmm... yeah... this is like, totes lawyer client stuff." If anything, it's probably the right move to make. I would think the DOJ would want a third party involved if for nothing more than optics at this point. Worse case, there's incriminating documents to unrelated crimes that get turned back over. Whatever those unrelated crimes are (if they exist), they are outside of the scope of the DOJ's investigation and warrant.

ETA: In the Judiciary Committee executive business meeting regarding her nomination, she got an "Aye" from Leahy, Feinstein, Durbin, and Coons.

[Gunnar]

I'm likely about to expose my naïvété.

I'm afraid I don't see what the big deal is with the appointment of a special master, beyond a waste of tax-payer dollars. The DOJ's filter team has already reviewed everything. The purpose for the warrant was seemingly to see if there were classified materials still being kept by Trump. There were, and they have been recovered.

Is there some bizarre reason to think that a court-appointed third party with the relevant clearance levels would look at a marked government classified document, and say "errrmm... yeah... this is like, totes lawyer client stuff." If anything, it's probably the right move to make. I would think the DOJ would want a third party involved if for nothing more than optics at this point. Worse case, there's incriminating documents to unrelated crimes that get turned back over. Whatever those unrelated crimes are (if they exist), they are outside of the scope of the DOJ's investigation and warrant.

I get your point on that. I agree that it is hard to see how this action will have any real delaying effect on investigation, indictment and prosecution of Trump for the numerous other misdeeds and crimes for which he has been accused, but it certainly shows the desperation of Trump to find any way he can to delay or prevent his seemingly inevitable demise.

[Gunnar]

What is corrupt?

Did you even bother to view the video? I thought not!

[Binger]

I get your point on that. I agree that it is hard to see how this action will have any real delaying effect on investigation, indictment and prosecution of Trump for the numerous other misdeeds and crimes for which he has been accused, but it certainly shows the desperation of Trump to find any way he can to delay or prevent his seemingly inevitable demise.

And you have a theory that all the accusations you see are legit, correct?

[Res Ipsa]

I'm likely about to expose my naïvété.

I'm afraid I don't see what the big deal is with the appointment of a special master, beyond a waste of tax-payer dollars. The DOJ's filter team has already reviewed everything. The purpose for the warrant was seemingly to see if there were classified materials still being kept by Trump. There were, and they have been recovered.

Is there some bizarre reason to think that a court-appointed third party with the relevant clearance levels would look at a marked government classified document, and say "errrmm... yeah... this is like, totes lawyer client stuff." If anything, it's probably the right move to make. I would think the DOJ would want a third party involved if for nothing more than optics at this point. Worse case, there's incriminating documents to unrelated crimes that get turned back over. Whatever those unrelated crimes are (if they exist), they are outside of the scope of the DOJ's investigation and warrant.

I have the same questions. I’ve seen several versions of this story that are over-hyped. The judge did not decide anything in her order. She stated her preliminary intent, subject to receipt of additional information. That’s not an unusual thing for a judge to do. Neither is appointing a special master to review documents and make recommendations with respect to claims of privilege.

No special master has been appointed. The DOJ has submitted the additional information requested by the judge and has had the opportunity to respond to to the judge’s preliminary inclination. Personally, I like to have some idea of the judge’s initial impression of an issue so that I can focus on what the judge is concerned about. Otherwise, I can end up wasting pages addressing arguments that judge doesn’t care about or may not need briefing on.

I see no evidence of corruption or incompetence in what the judge has done so far. It’s generally best to wait to see an actual ruling before crying foul.

Given the breadth of the warrant, I would expect that the seized boxes include some materials between Trump and his lawyers in his non-presidential capacity. Determining whether those materials are subject to the attorney-client privilege is unlikely to be straightforward because there is a civil fraud exception to the privilege that I expect will be an issue. In my state, the possible application of that exception generally results in some kind of confidential review of the documents by a judge, magistrate or special master.

The Justice Department has its own screening process, but the Judge doesn’t have to rely on it (and probably shouldn’t in this case). By requesting copies of the inventory of what was taken, she’s doing her job. I’d suggest waiting to see how she does it before getting out the torches and pitchforks.

A federal judge has lifetime tenure. They aren’t beholden to anyone.

[Binger]

What is corrupt?

Did you even bother to view the video? I thought not!

No. It was 8 minutes long. I read your post.

Can you edit the OP to add a poll to ask who watches the full video in 1x time?

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I don’t have a problem with a Special Master being appointed. In this case, and the lawyers here can correct if I’m wrong, the SM would have some expertise with regard to classified information - its creation, classification, declassification, rules governing its handling and transmission, sharing agreements, and storage. They need to be able to go through the FBI’s and presumable DJT’s handling of the matter, and so armed with a knowledge of the rules, regulations, and policies governing classified information being a fundamental to this situation they can weed out the important stuff from the detritus so the judge can rule effectively.

I also just pulled that out of my ass, because I’ve learned over the years facts don’t matter and by simply saying things you can convince those that want to be convinced that the words you just said are reality. Basically, I’m the Bene Gesserit.

eta: It should be noted that DJT passed more stringent laws with regard to the handling of classified information and said, “No one is above the law.” Also, a Prez just can’t declassify nuclear information* - none of them have that power or authority. Period.

- Doc

* to be fair I have no idea if nuclear classified information was a part of the material retrieved

[Gadianton]

The "special master" is pointless. Deflect, buy time. People make fun of the incompetency of Trump's legal council, but there's a method to the madness. As long as they buy time and stretching things out, they're doing their jobs.