Opinion The big takeaway from Trump's legal filings: He has no defense

[LetMyPeopleVote]

TFG has no real defense. Yesterday's filing was pure dreck

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/13/trump-filing-classified-documents-takeaways/

The Trump legal brain trust’s latest filing has been met with proper ridicule. From its characterization of the documents retrieved from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as “purported ‘classified records’ ” (Is there some doubt?) to its contention that the former president had the power to declassify documents (even though the absence of classification would not protect him from prosecution under the Espionage Act), the brief is incoherent, to put it mildly. Former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa tells me, “It literally contradicts itself in several places.”

Nevertheless, the filing is quite revealing, even if any rational judge would dismiss it out of hand. It demonstrates that Trump really has no excuse for having highly classified documents unsecured at Mar-a-Lago.

The brief never explicitly claims that Trump declassified any document — only that he had the power to do so. As former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal tweeted, “If Trump really thought he had declassified the documents, he [and] his lawyers would have said so. The fact that they never say in court what they say outside of [court] is itself damning.”

It’s a puzzle what his lawyers think would be a defense. Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weismann tells me, “His only possible defense is ‘I did not know I had government documents at Mar-a-Lago.’ ” But that won’t work, Weissmann says, because “there is so much contrary evidence that we know of already.” As he points out, the government executed its search warrant after Trump’s team said it returned everything because the government knew that assurance was false......

Trump has spent much of his life saying outrageous, false things. That simply does not work in court when the law is crystal clear and people outside the MAGA cult are rendering judgment. That may explain why Trump’s aim has always been to delay and delay, hoping some future Republican president (himself perhaps!) will, if needed, pardon him.

[Blue Owl]

1. Diarrhea Donny's got Trumpkus

[Irish_Dem]

2. It's just crisis management and PR at this point.

And using the court system like a wrecking ball.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. The DOJ filed a brief that destroyed TFG's weak claims

I love good legal writing. This response was well done and made me smile. The DOJ destroyed the rather feeble attempts at arguments made by TFG's attorneys.

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https://www.lawfareblog.com/justice-department-files-response-trumps-opposition-governments-motion-partial-stay-cannon-ruling

On Sept. 13, the Justice Department filed a reply in the ongoing litigation over the government's motion for partial stay of U.S District Judge Aileen Cannon's Sept. 5 order, which had granted former President Trump’s request for a special master and had further enjoined the government from reviewing and using materials seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence for "investigative purposes." In its motion, the government had requested that Cannon stay her order only as it relates to seized documents that are marked as classified. (Trump filed his response to the government's motion only yesterday.)

In its reply, the Justice Department argued that Trump cannot plausibly establish a property interest in the classified documents, as would be necessary for the court to exercise equitable jurisdiction. It further argued that Trump cannot plausibly assert either attorney-client or executive privilege over the classified documents. Finally, it argued that without a stay, the government and the public would suffer irreparable harm, whereas Trump had failed to prove that he would suffer any cognizable harm at all.

There is a link to the opinion on this tweet

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. TFG's attorneys will not be able to respond to this bried

"Plaintiff offers no response to the government’s multiple arguments demonstrating that he cannot plausibly assert executive privilege ..

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