Trump tells court that classified material should have been expected in presidential records

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

(CNN)Former President Donald Trump argued in a court filing Wednesday that the National Archives should have expected to find classified material among the 15 boxes Trump turned over in January from Mar-a-Lago because they were presidential records. The filing acknowledged that classified material was found at Mar-a-Lago, but argued that it should not have been cause for alarm -- and should not have led to the search of Trump's Florida residence earlier this month.

Trump's new filing on Wednesday is his platform to formally respond to prosecutors' assertions that members of his legal team engaged in "obstructive conduct" by concealing documents at his Florida resort and by providing untrue information to investigators about how many classified documents remained on site. The Justice Department had said in court filings that the search was undertaken after the FBI developed evidence that Trump's team had concealed materials after claiming that all classified materials had been turned over in June.

"The purported justification for the initiation of this criminal probe was the alleged discovery of sensitive information contained within the 15 boxes of Presidential records," Trump's lawyers wrote. "But this 'discovery' was to be fully anticipated given the very nature of Presidential records. Simply put, the notion that Presidential records would contain sensitive information should have never been cause for alarm." Trump's lawyers argue that under the Presidential Records Act, the Archives should have followed up with a good faith effort to secure recovery of presidential records, rather than referring a criminal probe to the Justice Department.

The dueling court filings are in a civil lawsuit that Trump filed earlier this month, as part of his attempt to get a "special master" appointed to review documents that the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago. Federal prosecutors oppose this request, claim it would impede the ongoing criminal investigation and the intelligence community's review of any national security risks, and want the suit dismissed.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/31/politics/trump-response-mar-a-lago-search-special-master/index.html

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Full new headline: Trump tells court that classified material should have been expected in presidential records found at Mar-a-Lago

Here is the link from CNN's article (PDF reader) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22273348-trump-filing-responding-to-doj-in-his-request-for-a-special-master

File (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22273348/trump-filing-responding-to-doj-in-his-request-for-a-special-master.pdf

Article now being updated. Original article and headline -

Trump responds in court to Justice Department's filing about Mar-a-Lago investigation

(CNN)Former President Donald Trump has formally responded in court to the Justice Department's blockbuster filing from Tuesday night, which revealed new details about the Mar-a-Lago investigation.

Trump's new filing on Wednesday is his platform to formally respond to prosecutors' assertions that members of his team engaged in "obstructive conduct" by concealing documents at his Florida resort and by providing untrue information to investigators about how many classified documents remained on-site.

The dueling court filings are in a civil lawsuit that Trump filed earlier this month, as part of his attempt to get a "special master" appointed to review documents that the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago. Federal prosecutors oppose this request, claim it would impede the ongoing criminal investigation and the intelligence community's review of any national security risks, and want the suit dismissed.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Prediction on the "Legal Arguments" from Trump's Lawyers

Last edited Wed Aug 31, 2022, 09:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Yargle-Bargle.


On Edit: They should have left it at Yargle-Bargle. It seems to completely ignore the substance of the DOJ response.

[Yonnie3]

2. I started to read the filing but tired of it and found a summary

Link to tweet

Text of tweet:

Angry Staffer 🌻
@Angry_Staffer
·

I’ve read the Trump response to DOJ’s motion. Allow me to summarize:

WAAAAAAH!

Election interference!

WAAAAAHHH!

Presidential Records Act!

WAAAAHHHH!!!
8:08 PM · Aug 31, 2022

[BumRushDaShow]

3. ...

[ificandream]

4. Trump's argument ...

[EndlessWire]

5. More tedious hogwash.

He is still asserting Executive Privilege. He seems outraged that anyone with legal authority would dare to execute a search warrant on his home. He is angry over the picture showing the classified docs on the floor, although he doesn't seem to deny that they were there.

But the most mind numbing assertion is that, "The Government should have expected classified docs to be in the "Presidential" records." Well, I guess that's one way to alibi out of having taken classified docs. I think he mixed those classified docs in there in order to camouflage them amongst the garbage.

He keeps trying to fall back on the PRA as being a noncriminal statute. He has indicated that he now plans to contest the validity of the search warrant. Oh, and he is upset that Garland exhorted his people to stand fast in their duties (you know, that last statement he gave.)

I dunno. I still think that we have him dead to rights, and he has been caught with his hands in the cookie jar. We are almost there.

[LudwigPastorius]

6. You are not president, Trump.

Even if those records did NOT contain classified material, they are NOT yours.

44 U.S.C. Chapter 22

§ 2202. Ownership of Presidential records

The United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records; and such records shall be administered in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

§ 2203. Management and custody of Presidential records

(g)(1) Upon the conclusion of a President’s term of office... the Archivist of the United States shall assume responsibility for the custody, control, and preservation of, and access to, the Presidential records of that President.

[intheflow]

15. Yep.

Stealing is stealing. That’s why it’s so awesome that this case doesn’t rest on stealing classified documents, but documents overall.

[orangecrush]

7. Sthap it!

[Grins]

8. It's THEIR fault!!!!

They should have known he is a liar and a traitor.

[Bayard]

9. His attorneys must be from the planet, Bullshit

Their arguments are as asinine as the demand for a Special Master. As Neal Katyal said on Lawrence earlier, a Special Master is to determine if any documents would infringe on client/attorney privilege. No such legal documents were found.

[raising2moredems]

10. drump is an embarrassment

And to think "people" elected him. He made the US such an embarrassment to the world.

[Orrex]

11. It really is a shame that he hasn't yet stroked out on live tv

Another day wasted.

[onetexan]

12. Oh yea that'll do it

[NYC Liberal]

13. Notice they say "sensitive information" and not "classified information"

They know full well that classified information is not expected to be sitting around in boxes with random personal crap.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. But even with that, this statement is a fabrication

the Archives should have followed up with a good faith effort to secure recovery of presidential records

because NARA spent over a year (while DU whined about DOJ "taking too long" - "18 months", "19 months", "20 months", despite DOJ not yet being involved in this until AFTER NARA made best efforts to follow their own processes to retrieve the info) sending correspondence asking for the records.

I.e., in NARA's Feb. 2022 correspondence (which was included as "Attachment A" in DOJ's filing) they reply to the House Oversight Committee regarding the "15 boxes" that were initially retrieved, indicating this -

NARA had ongoing communications with the representatives of former
President Trump throughout 2021, which resulted in the transfer of 15 boxes to
NARA in January 2022.

And in a similar response to one of 45's lawyers in May, noted this ( "Attachment B" in DOJ's filing) -

As you are no doubt aware, NARA had ongoing communications with the former President's
representatives throughout 2021 about what appeared to be missing Presidential records, which
resulted in the transfer of 15 boxes of records to NARA in January 2022.

So the nonsense that was in their filing is why federal agencies do their increasingly ( "informal" ) escalating correspondence to parties being asked to provide information, so it can be shown they were:

1.) Given initial notice in writing of what is being requested
2.) Given a date (or dates) for when a response is needed (deadline)
3.) Given the opportunity (in some cases) to negotiate those "due dates" to account for extenuating circumstances (and this sometimes includes invites to "meet to discuss" if clarification is needed in order to offer assistance to receive that info)
4.) Given 2nd, and sometimes even 3rd notice if there was no response back and/or the response was insufficient (and reasons why the response was insufficient will be provided)

This all happens before it gets handed to DOJ to file in court to compel the info through a subpoena.

And if it does end up with DOJ issuing a subpoena and the subpoena was only able to obtain some of the info and/or there was a "refusal" to comply with the subpoena, then DOJ itself will escalate, when warranted, to execute a search and seizure to obtain that info.

[LiberalFighter]

20. The names of TFG representatives and attornies in this matter needs to be publicized.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. I know the attorneys have been identified

but not the "representatives" (as far as I've found). I expect some ( "representatives" ) may have been subpoenaed for the grand jury associated with this topic of "handling (and "mishandling" ) of government documents".

[MissMillie]

16. Before even READING the article or anything to do w/ TFG's response...

my reaction to the title was...

"THEY DID EXPECT TO FIND THE CLASSIFIED MATERIALS!"

After all, it's an investigation, not a guessing game.

I mean, seriously... they requested the search warrants because they fully expected to find the materials there.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. And since they had already sent people to the premises earlier (June)

and those DOJ staffers (FBI) were give a tour, they knew exactly what the layout was and how the search warrant would be crafted, plus what types of info would be retrieved since even with that visit, they obtained some of the documents, and before they left, they demanded that a storage area be secured with a padlock.

Documents at Mar-a-Lago Were Moved and Hidden as U.S. Sought Them, Filing Suggests


By Glenn Thrush, Charlie Savage, Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman
Published Aug. 31, 2022Updated Sept. 1, 2022, 12:01 a.m. ET

(snip)

On May 11, department lawyers obtained a subpoena to retrieve all materials marked as classified that were not turned over by the former president.

On June 3, his team presented F.B.I. agents with 38 additional documents with classified markings, including 17 labeled top secret.

(snip)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/us/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-documents.html

Updated no paywall link

[Novara]

18. throwing shit at the wall to see if anything sticks

So far, nada.

They got nutthin. And they know it.

[Maeve]

19. You knew what I was from the beginning!!

How many times can we repeat the Frog and Scorpion folktale...or sing "How Could You Believe Me?" This act is too old; give it up, already.

[louis-t]

21. This is called "normalizing theft of classified documents".

"Everybody does it". He keeps acting like he cooperated. He didn't cooperate, his attorney lied and said there were no more documents at that site. He was subpoenaed, he ignored the subpoena. Story keeps changing, as I predicted the first day.

[scipan]

23. We're now on the third excuse of the narcissist prayer

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.