(WED 8/31/22)
Looks like obstruction of justice … The Justice Department pushed back on federal district judge for the Southern District of Florida Aileen M. Cannon’s “preliminary intent” to grant Trump attorneys a “special master” to overlook the case of the FBI’s August 8 search of government documents kept at Mar-a-Lago, NPR reports. “The Case of FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago” is not a Nancy Drew title: DOJ released photos of the classified documents, many labeled moved to a floor at ex-President Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, estate and club, next to boxes of old, framed magazine covers of The Donald. FBI agents had to be granted special security clearance August 8 to inspect some of the documents.
The DOJ says the classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from locked Mar-a-Lago storage, to avoid discovery in the FBI search. As pundits have speculated in recent days, the Justice Department’s criminal investigation centers on obstruction of justice.
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Gorbachev is dead … Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader who oversaw the dismantling of the Soviet Union and helped end the Cold War, died in Moscow Tuesday after a “long and grave illness,” according to The New York Times. He was 91.
Gorbachev, who became president of the Soviet Union in 1985, helped bring the Cold War to a peaceful end, freed satellite countries in Eastern Europe and reunited Germany, but his reforms of Russia have since been reversed by its current president, Vladimir Putin.
“I think he’s one of the most consequential leaders of the 20th Century,” Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration, told NPR’s Morning Edition.
--Todd Lassa
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...meanwhile...Mar-a-Lagogate (TUE 8/30/22)
Mastered documents … No need for a special master to review documents confiscated from Mar-a-Lago in the FBI’s August 8 search of ex-President Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida home. The Justice Department has told U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon that a “filter team” already has weeded out material that should not be reviewed by the criminal investigation, The Washington Post reports. Pundits and analysts have been wondering why Donald J. Trump’s attorneys have waited this long to request the special master. Judge Cannon, a Trump appointment, said last Saturday it was her “preliminary intent” to appoint a special master, but now we will not need to wait for her decision.
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Secret Service assistant director retires … U.S. Secret Service Assistant Director Tony Ornato, a key figure in the House Select Committee hearings on the January 6 Capitol attack, has announced his retirement after 25 years of service, Just Security reports. In a key hearing this summer, Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told the panel that Ornato described then-President Trump as lashing out “in anger” when Secret Service agents refused to drive him to the Capitol on January 6.
--Todd Lassa
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Will Mar-a-Lagogate Finish Trump? (MON 8/29/22)
Donald J. Trump is embroiled in one more scandal that may stretch beyond the limits of his political career.
Again.
This time, however, there is concern over what sort of harm the ex-president’s hubris in running off to Mar-a-Lago with what he has insisted are his White House documents may have imposed on our national security. As originally reported by Politico National Intelligence Director Avril D. Haines has written to the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees that her office will lead an investigation to assess the “potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure” of the 184 government documents that Trump hauled off to Mar-a-Lago when he left the White House. This will be an assessment of what intelligence sources and systems may have been identified within those boxes of papers kept at the ex-president’s Palm Beach, Florida, estate.
Of three criminal laws listed as the basis for the search warrant on Mar-a-Lago served August 8, much of the attention has been on the Espionage Act and the FBI’s recovery of 25 top secret, 92 secret and 67 confidential documents. But according to The New York Times Sunday “the crime of obstruction is as, or even more, serious a threat to Mr. Trump or his close associates,” and cites Section 1519 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In other words, Trump may be held responsible for keeping the documents from being returned to the National Archives for more than a year after he left the White House. Violating Section 1519 carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, “which is twice as long as the penalty under the Espionage Act,” the Times says.
Florida judge: Meanwhile, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida said Saturday it is her “preliminary intent” to appoint a “special master” to conduct a review of the 184 documents the FBI seized three weeks ago, the NYT says. According to NPR, a special master is usually an attorney or former judge acting as an independent arbiter in the case – typically requested an appointed at the time the warrant is served.
--Todd Lassa