JUST IN: DOJ has proposed a rough process for the special master review of the seized Mar-a-Lago documents. It would rely on a "Relativity" platform operated by an outside vendor to permit access to both parties and help speed the review.
It's a not too dissimilar process for how evidence is shared with defendants in the Jan. 6 investigations. The government contracted out a massive database project to Deloitte, which built a Relativity database.
The government wants Trump's lawyers and any vendors to sign a protective order to impose strict limits on sharing any documents reviewed as part of the special master process. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
All of this is about the 11,000 documents *without* classified markings. If the appeals court rejects DOJ effort to stay Cannon's order with respect to the 100 records with classified markings, DOJ says it will propose a separate procedure for those. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
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BREAKING: Appeals Court panel *grants* DOJ request for a stay of parts of Judge Cannon’s ruling.
"[Trump] has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents.
Nor has he established that the current administration has waived that requirement for these documents." politico.com/f/?id=00000183…
The unanimous three judge panel:
Andrew Brasher: Trump appointee
Britt Grant: Trump appointee
Robin Rosenbaum, Obama appointee
NEWS: The NY AG is suing Trump and two of his kids, alleging a massive campaign of fraudulent business practices by the Trump Org.
She's also urging federal prosceutors and the IRS to pursue criminal probes.
Details TK
The wide-ranging lawsuit alleges decades of deception and relies on a statute for repeat violations of law. The suit stems from a 3.5 year investigation that began with Michael Cohen's tesimony to Congress alleging Trump inflated value of assets to win favorable financial deals.
JAMES: “The complaint demonstrates that Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us."
HAPPENING NOW: I have dialed in to Judge Dearie's courtroom, and apparently the system has left every single caller unmuted -- so it sounds roughly like midtown at rush hour, but with the added benefit of dozens of people screaming at each other to shut up.
This is truly the soundtrack of my nightmares, people who sound demonically possessed yelling "MUUUUTE" at inhuman decibel levels and getting increasingly furious that no one is listening.
Moral: Never dial in 20 minutes early.
Someone is now piping elevator music into the call after another caller sang America the Beautiful. Another man hypnotically reciting "Trump is a criminal." Since I dialed in, a woman has been shrieking "Mute your phones!" consistently every 10-15 seconds.
JUST IN: Trump has filed a 40-page response to DOJ's appeals court filing. Among their arguments: Trump's handwritten notes on potentially classified documents may make them subject to executive privilege claims. politico.com/f/?id=00000183…
Trump's main argument against a stay:
*DOJ* (not him) hasn't proven the documents are still classified.
...Not sure how they would do this other than to point to the classification marks and absence of evidence otherwise. politico.com/f/?id=00000183…
And it's important to note (hi @emptywheel), DOJ subpoenaed all docs with classification markings, regardless of whether they remain classified, which prosceutors say is immaterial to their need to recover them. politico.com/f/?id=00000183…
NEW: The House's newly filed Electoral Count Act reform mirrors the Senate's in most substantive ways. A couple differences: it more clearly defines what the "catastrophic" events that would permit a state to extend its voting period.
(Senate bill left definition to the states)
It also permits a court to impose triple damages against any candidate who doesn't make a "good-faith" challenge to states' post-election procedures.
House bill seems to get more specific in several areas than the Senate bill. For example, it contemplates a rogue Archivist refusing to transmit a legitimate elector slate to Congress. docs.house.gov/meetings/RU/RU…
BREAKING: DOJ has appealed Judge Cannon's denial of prosecutors' request for a stay of portions of her unprecedented ruling enjoining their criminal probe related to the Mar-a-Lago search. politico.com/f/?id=00000183…
"The court’s order hamstrings that investigation and places the FBI and Department of Justice under a Damoclean threat of contempt."
Clarifying above: The motion is for the appeals court to implement a "partial stay" of Cannon's order, not technically an appeal (DOJ has previously appealed Cannon's entire order) politico.com/f/?id=00000183…