Free Republic

A right-wing group specializing in hidden-camera investigations will not be able to use the First Amendment to stop the federal government from accessing documents and communications related to the group’s apparent acquisition of a stolen diary belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter.As Law&Crime previously reported, the FBI executed a search warrant in 2021 at the property of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, as well as from Project Veritas staffers Spencer Meads and Eric Cochran. The search warrants were granted in connection with the theft and sale of the personal journal belonging to Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter. Two people, Aimee...

A federal appeals court on Thursday halted Judge Aileen Cannon’s special master review in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents case. In September, Judge Cannon appointed a special master to review the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago. Biden’s corrupt Justice Department argued that a special master didn’t have a right to filter out the seized documents. The court blasted Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, and said she erred in appointing Raymond Dearie as a special master to review documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. “The law is clear,” the judges wrote. “We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to...

Former US President Donald Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to intervene in the Mar-a-Lago documents-seizure case, saying the special master appointed in the matter should be allowed to review the sensitive materials, The Washington Post reports. The filing came after a unanimous three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit granted the Justice Department’s request to keep about 100 classified documents separate from the special master’s review. In the ruling last month, the panel — two judges nominated by Trump and one by President Barack Obama — rejected Trump’s argument that the classified...

Donald Trump on Monday objected to a Justice Department request for an expedited ruling in the special master case involving documents seized by the FBI in an August search of the former president's Florida home. "The government has not and cannot possibly articulate any real risk of loss or harm resulting from a more deliberative process," Trump's lawyers wrote in a filing in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Justice Department on Friday moved to expedite its appeal of an order appointing a special master to review records the FBI seized from Trump's Florida estate. The department...

The special master overseeing the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation has ordered former President Donald Trump's lawyers to back up out-of-court assertions that the FBI may have planted evidence at the property during their search last month. Judge Raymond Dearie, the court-appointed special master, said in a filing Thursday that Trump's team needs to submit a sworn declaration saying if they believe the Justice Department included any items on their "inventory" of materials taken from Mar-a-Lago that were not actually seized during the search. The declaration must include "a list of any specific items set forth in the Detailed Property Inventory that...

The judge designated as the special master in former President Donald Trump’s records case has proposed that a government official swear that the government properly listed items taken from Trump’s home in August.U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master, also left open the possibility of recommending the government be ordered to return some of the seized materials.Dearie outlined the plan on Sept. 22, following an order that blocks him and Trump’s lawyers from accessing materials with classified markings that were taken from Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.Dearie, a George W. Bush appointee, was chosen by Trump attorneys and...

Rather than continue to fight this losing and expensive battle, Trump should pivot to the midterms and take his case to the public. ============================================================ The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals dashed former President Donald Trump’s hopes that his attorneys could review the 100 documents marked classified that the FBI seized during a raid of his Mar-a-Lago home. Wednesday’s decision by the federal appellate court came just one day after the special master indicated no such review would take place absent evidence that Trump had declassified those documents. While Trump could still seek intervention by the Supreme Court, given the special...

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta just dealt former President Donald Trump and his legal team a serious setback as they authorized the DOJ to continue combing through classified records seized after FBI agents raided his Palm Beach, Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, in early August. The ruling reverses an earlier decision by Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who ruled in favor of Trump last week by allowing an independent arbiter known as a special master to review the documents before the DOJ could look at them.This new decision dramatically scales back the power of the special master and allows the...

Judge Raymond Dearie, the “special master” appointed to review the ‘classified’ documents seized from Mar-a-Lago blasted Trump’s lawyers at Tuesday’s preliminary conference. Judge Dearie was one of the FISA judges who signed the warrant to spy on Carter Page without cause. ...... Snip...... On Tuesday Judge Dearie repeatedly asked Trump’s lawyers to prove the former president declassified the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago, “You can’t have your cake and eat it,” the judge said according to Politico. In a new filing Trump’s lawyers argued that the DOJ has never actually proven the documents it claims are classified are actually classified. “The...

In early September, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon approved Trump’s request for a special master to oversee the review of all the evidence seized in the raid and also temporarily blocked parts of the DOJ investigation pending the appointment of the special master. She ultimately appointed Judge Raymond Dearie as the special master to review the details and legality of the raid on Trump’s private Florida estate. Judge Cannon had ruled against a DOJ request to delay the proceedings and continue to look at the documents separately from the special master. During the raid, passports belonging to former President Trump...

Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master overseeing the seizure of documents from Mar-a-Lago, signaled on Tuesday to lawyers for former President Donald Trump that if they don't make a case that any of the documents were declassified, he would determine that they're classified. Out of court, Trump has pushed the claim he declassified all the documents, and his lawyers have raised that possibility in court papers, though they have never explicitly argued that anything was declassified. Federal prosecutors have argued for weeks that documents seized from Mar-a-Lago that contain classification markings -- like "top secret" -- should be treated as...

The newly appointed special master who will review the documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago directed lawyers for former President Trump and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to meet with him in New York on Tuesday for their first conference. Judge Raymond Dearie, who was appointed as special master in the case on Thursday, called on Friday for a meeting and invited the two parties to suggest items for discussion, according to a court filing. Dearie has until Nov. 30 to complete his review of the documents. As the special master process moves forward, the Justice Department is continuing its legal battle...

Trump’s win shouldn’t be a loss for the Department of Justice—unless the Biden administration played fast and loose with the facts.The Biden administration cannot use the documents the FBI seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home for criminal investigative purposes until a special master completes an independent review of the material, a federal judge held on Thursday.That decision and the court’s selection of Trump’s preferred special master candidate, coupled with the fulsome review process adopted yesterday by presiding Judge Aileen Cannon, represent a huge victory for the former president. But Trump’s win shouldn’t be a loss for the Department of Justice—unless...

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday appointed New York Judge Raymond Dearie as special master to independently review documents the FBI took from former President Donald Trump's Florida home in early August. Cannon's appointment of Dearie came alongside a separate ruling that denied the Department of Justice's request to continue its own review of the documents. "The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion," Cannon wrote in her ruling denying the DOJ further review of...

The Justice Department and former President Donald Trump's legal team have found rare agreement in a potential candidate to serve as the special master tasked with reviewing the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. Judge Raymond Dearie, whom Trump's legal team put forward, is an acceptable option to serve as the third-party attorney to independently review the seized materials, the Justice Department said in a court filing Monday evening. While it remains unclear when US District Judge Aileen Cannon will decide who will serve as the special master, here's what you need to know about Dearie and the role he could play...

In a filing late Monday, the Justice Department agreed to one of the choices for a special master put forward by former president Donald Trump to review documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.Judge Raymond J. Dearie, who was one of two choices submitted by Trump’s legal team, would review all of the documents if Judge Aileen Cannon approves the pick. Cannon had previously requested that both Trump and the Justice Department offer up candidates to serve as special master.According to the Washington Post, Dearie has a long record of serving in the criminal justice system.Dearie, 78, still serves as a judge in...

An attorney for former President Donald Trump scolded the Justice Department for fighting the appointment of a special master to review documents seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. James Trusty, a former federal prosecutor, told Fox News host Mark Levin it is a "fair question" to ask whether the Justice Department is attempting a cover-up as it conducts a criminal investigation into Trump's handling of records after leaving office. "What we have in this situation is a historical first. And I mean that in a very negative way, to have this search warrant based on failed [National Archives] negotiations, I suppose,...

The raid on former President Trump’s home in Florida was unprecedented and Trump has made his objections known in legal and social statements, proclaiming his distrust of those involved.Trump’s request for a special master to independently review the documents seized is an effort on his part to ensure more integrity in the review process.The DOJ had opposed that request, saying a team of agency officials had already completed a privilege review of the documents, and that a special master could harm the government’s national security interests.This week U.S. District Judge from the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen M. Cannon...

DOJ Picks Same Special Master Candidate Who Was Behind Giuliani and Toensing Home Raids – Michael Cohen Case By Jim Hoft Published September 10, 2022 at 9:58am 404 Comments Share Tweet Gab Share Telegram Telegram Gettr Gettr Retired Judge Barbara Jones Just Human on Telegram reported noted that the DOJ picked the same corrupt judge they used to approve the raids on Rudy Giuliani and Victoria Toensing’s homes. Judge Barbara Jones was also involved in the James O’Keefe Search Warrant Case. As you may recall — the Stasi-FBI took all of Rudy’s electronics except for the Hunter Biden Laptop hard...

The Feds appealed a judge’s order naming a special master to cull through the hundreds of pages of documents, news clippings, and other items that they took from former President Donald Trump’s South Florida home. On Monday, Federal Judge Aileen Cannon ordered a special master, which is usually a former judge or lawyer, to go through the documents taken from Trump’s office in the Aug. 8 raid. By Thursday, Department of Justice lawyers were back in court arguing that such a move would delay its latest election season investigation of the former president. The DOJ and its gunned-up Hostage Rescue...