Trump's judges unimpressed with Trump's legal position

A federal appeals court panel sounded highly skeptical Tuesday about former President Donald Trump’s effort to rein in the Justice Department’s investigation into a trove of government documents, including sensitive national security records, at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

[...]

All three of the judges on the appeals panel — including two appointed by Trump himself — seemed inclined to conclude that U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon erred when she granted Trump’s request for an independent review to assess Trump’s claims that some of the documents are legally protected and when she ordered that the records be off limits to investigators until those claims are litigated.

[...]

An order issued in August by Cannon, a Trump appointee based in Fort Pierce, Fla., also halted the government’s ability to use the records in its criminal investigation until Trump’s objections are addressed. However, in September, the appeals court granted an emergency motion by the Justice Department that effectively carved out from the special master process about 100 documents with classification markings such as “top secret.”

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From the outset of the 35-minute session, the appeals judges aggressively challenged Trump’s legal position, suggesting that he was getting accommodations that the courts almost never grant to a criminal suspect before charges are filed.

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On Tuesday, the appeals court panel seemed prepared to deliver another blow. The judges raised particular alarm about setting a precedent that could disrupt innumerable criminal investigations, and they wondered whether Trump’s attorneys were seeking special treatment for the ex-president.

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“We’re talking about an extreme situation,” [Trump attorney James] Trusty said. “We’re not looking for special treatment for President Trump. We are recognizing that there’s a context here.”

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Trusty also contended that the [Mar-A-Lago] search was wildly overbroad and swept up “incredibly personal” items.

“This was carte blanche,” Trusty argued. “This is why they took golf shirts and pictures of Celine Dion.”

  Politico

He had pictures of Celine Dion?

[T]he warrant issued by a magistrate judge as part of an investigation into alleged retention of classified information, theft of government records and obstruction of justice allowed investigators to take documents and other items located in the same folder or container as government records that typically go to the National Archives at the conclusion of a presidency.

The presence of personal effects with other records can be used by investigators to try to prove who had knowledge that the records were there.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily the fault of the government if someone has intermingled classified documents and all kinds of other personal property,” [Justice] Pryor said.

And, in fact, that may be evidence of consciousness of guilt. He may have figured the personal items would make the records amongst them off limits to a search/seizure.

[Government Attorney Sopan] Joshi said Trump already has been given access to copies of all the seized documents, save for those marked classified.

“What he wants is to prevent the government from using the documents, and I’m not sure that that would ever be a valid justification,” Joshi said.

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[Judge] Grant and Judge Andrew Brasher — both appointed by Trump himself — have been sharply critical of the former president’s effort to impose limits on the criminal investigation. They ruled against him last month after the DOJ made an emergency bid to restart aspects of its criminal probe that had been put on hold by Cannon.

The third judge, Pryor, is a highly conservative appointee of President George W. Bush. Trump’s arguments seemed to fare no better with Pryor than with the other two appeals judges.

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In September, Cannon tapped Brooklyn-based U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Dearie, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, to field Trump’s objections to the search and to conduct a detailed review of documents he claims are subject to executive-privilege or other protections. Dearie has been overseeing that process for more than two months, but it could abruptly end if the appeals court rules that Cannon should not have appointed a special master in the first place.

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In a 12-page filing, Trump’s attorneys asked Cannon to fully unseal the affidavit the FBI used to justify the search of Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s legal team expressed fears that the traffic jam of investigations into Trump could result in his personal records being sent to prosecutors investigating other matters connected to the ex-president.

“A general rummaging through the belongings of President Trump is a particularly ominous moment in law enforcement history,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing, signed by attorney Lindsey Halligan.

Well, as Judge Pryor said, that's Trump's fault. Shouldn't have put his personal shit in with the government's documents.

If the appeal argued Tuesday is successful, the special master process Cannon ordered would be scuttled and her role in the dispute could end.

Let us hope.

While [Special Counsel Jack] Smith is now overseeing the team investigating the presence of various government records at Mar-a-Lago and possible obstruction of justice in the probe, the longtime prosecutor was not on hand for Tuesday’s arguments. He had a biking accident recently in the Netherlands, where he has been prosecuting war crimes cases from Kosovo in the Hague, officials said. Due to the mishap, Smith required surgery on his knee. He’s taking on his new assignment remotely for now and is expected to return to the U.S. soon, officials said.

The Justice Department submitted to the 11th Circuit an unusual filing Monday on behalf of Smith, notifying the court of his new role and advising that he “approves all of the arguments that have been presented in the briefs and will be discussed at the oral argument.”

An accident?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  Jesus wept.

UPDATE: