Trump's 'Special Master' Win Called More A 'Speed Bump than a Brick Wall'
Justice Department could arrest former president, ex-prosecutor says
Judge Aileen Cannon's decision to allow Donald Trump to have a so-called “special master” review the documents that the Department of Justice (DOJ) retrieved from Mar-a-Lago amounts to more of a “speed bump than a brick wall,” according to an author and former prosecutor.
Meanwhile, DOJ could be taking steps — including Trump's arrest — to begin to gain a clearer picture of the potential damage done to US national security by Trump having stored boxes of classified and other national security materials at his Palm Beach Fla home following the end of his term in office, according to a second, veteran federal prosecutor.
Cannon ordered a “special master” to review the seized materials for potential attorney-client and executive privilege. Prosecutors expressed exasperation at Trump’s demand to review for executive privilege, noting that there is no precedent for a former executive to assert privilege to bar review of materials by a sitting executive branch — particularly when the government has determined the need is urgent.
However, author and former federal and New Jersey state prosecutor Elie Honig tempered the importance of that Trump victory.
“People need to understand, though, ultimately, while it’s a win for Trump, it’s a procedural win. It does not prevent DOJ ultimately from charging or not charging or from gaining a conviction or not gaining a conviction,” said Honig, senior CNN legal analyst. “I think it’s likely that when this process is done, the number of documents that actually will be filtered out will be fairly small.
“And if they are filtered out, John, they’ll be privileged, and DOJ shouldn’t be able to use them in the first place. So, this is a win for Donald Trump. It’s really more of a speed bump than a brick wall for DOJ, however,” Honig said in an on-camera appearance.
Meanwhile, DOJ could be taking pro-active steps to at least get a better — and more-direct — understanding of the potential damage Trump's done by holding those documents, according to another long-time former federal prosecutor, Glenn Kirschner.
“This executive branch, this Department of Justice, has not at least as far as we know demanded Donald Trump sit down for an interview and debrief to provide the information he has up here about what he did with those documents that could help protect our nation and this Department of Justice hasn’t subpoenaed him to divulge what he knows about what he did to compromise our national security …” Kirschner said in a separate appearance on MSNBC. “One thing at a time and the first step on the road to trying to protect our nation and the third thing that they could be doing and they’re not, they could be arresting Donald Trump because they have probable cause plus, plus, plus arrest him, mirandize him, and miranda is still a thing and interrogate him.
“If he waives his Miranda rights and extract from him information that can protect our national security as best we can tell the Department of Justice is doing none of that,” he added.
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