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"The President Was ... Working in a Filing Room"

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emptywheel
Back in February, Trump tried to lead the public to believe 15 boxes returned to the Archives were full of junk like newspapers and magazines. They were! But amidst all that, there were classified documents stripped of their classified cover sheets.
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One Big Potentially Pending Question: What Happens to Trump's Impeachment 1.0 Papers?

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emptywheel
There are several categories of documents seized in the search of Mar-a-Lago that might be privileged but that a judge might decide is evidence of the crimes covered by the warrant. The most difficult would be papers involving White House counsel lawyers who were part of Trump's first Impeachment defense.
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Key Details about Evan Corcoran that Evan Corcoran Did Not Disclose to Judge Aileen Cannon

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emptywheel
Evan Corcoran, in a filing that failed to disclose his own role in the events under investigation, falsely suggested to Judge Aileen Cannon that this was a search about the Presidential Records Act and not an investigation into violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction. He didn't even tell her that he is named in the affidavit showing probable cause of obstruction.
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Six Days: Trump's Second Whack Filing Is Too Late

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emptywheel
By the time Trump's lawyers serve DOJ in their lawsuit asking for a Special Master, DOJ will have had three times as long as it took to do a preliminary review of 15 boxes of documents in May.
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Did Kash Patel Already Confess to Illegally Disseminating Carter Page FISA Information?

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emptywheel
If there was an unredacted copy of the fourth FISA application targeting Carter Page in the stash of documents Donald Trump stole from the White House, it would amount to a separate violation of FISA, on top of any exposure under the Espionage Act.
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The Elements of the Offense for an 18 USC 793e Prosecution

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emptywheel
These are the questions a jury would consider if Trump were ever tried under 18 USC 793e.
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Trump Had Human, Signals, and FISA Intelligence in an Insecure Room at Mar-a-Lago for a Year

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emptywheel
Trump stored signals, human, and FISA intelligence in a storage room in his spy-targeted resort.
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How To Be a Handmaiden to Corruption, Barr Memo Press Coverage Edition

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emptywheel
Some of the reporting on the Barr Memo treats it as something four judges have said it's not: a predecisional memo on whether Trump could have been charged, rather than an effort to pitch a preordained decision to announce he couldn't be as if it were a measured legal decision.
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Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart Accepts DOJ's Proposed Redactions

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emptywheel
Bruce Reinhart has ordered the government to release a redacted version of the Donald Trump affidavit.
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Two People Plead Guilty in Conspiracy to Transport Ashley Biden Diary

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emptywheel
Two people in the case involving Project Veritas' payment for a diary stolen from Ashely Biden pled guilty today.
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The Word "Pardon" Doesn't Appear in the Barr Memo

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emptywheel
Bill Barr stated, three times, that trading pardons for false testimony would be a crime. And then he didn't even address that crime in his memo declining prosecution before Trump went on to pardon three witnesses against him.
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Bill Barr Performed the Corruption He Was Trying To Deny

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emptywheel
Because the analysis in the Barr Memo declining prosecution of Donald Trump was so shoddy, it set off a snowball of further corrupt actions. But you don't have to get beyond the nine page memo to see that Barr was performing precisely the corruption he was trying to deny.
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The Redacted Mar-a-Lago Affidavit DOJ Should Submit

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bmaz
As you may know, DOJ is ordered by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart to submit a "suggested" redacted version of the warrant affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search executed on August 8, 2022. The federal magistrate judge who authorized the warrant…
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The Barr Memo Relied on Covering Up the Ongoing Roger Stone Conspiracy Investigation

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emptywheel
The Barr Memo relied on a claim that the results of the First Volume were conclusive that DOJ couldn't charge any Trump associate with conspiracy. He knew at the time, however, that was a lie.
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Christina Bobb, Custodian of Records and Coup Conspirator

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emptywheel
As part of a ploy to excuse a declaration signed June 8 claiming that Trump had returned all classified documents, he has claimed that Christina Bobb is not his lawyer, but was instead his Custodian of Records. That would make a player in the January 6 coup attempt the custodian of records about that event -- and some of America's most sensitive secrets.
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The Day After Paul Sperry Claimed Trump Had Been Hiding January 6 Documents, DOJ Subpoenaed the Archives Again

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emptywheel
The day after Paul Sperry claimed that Trump had been withholding materials from the Archives with the purpose of keeping such materials out of the hands of the January 6 Committee, Thomas Windom subpoenaed the Archives for more January 6 documents.
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A Roger Stone Pardon for MacronLeaks Isn't As Crazy as It Sounds

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emptywheel
Most reporters are dismissing the possibility that the Executive Grant of Clemency for Roger Stone described in Trump's search warrant receipt could be any but the known Stone commutation or pardons. But it's not out of the question that it pertains to MacronLeaks.
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Mastering Obstruction: Two of Trump's Attorneys May Be Witnesses or Suspects

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emptywheel
Since the time they jointly signed a declaration that falsely claimed there were no more classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, DOJ would be trying to figure out whether Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb are witnesses ... or potential co-conspirators.
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Archives Letter Demonstrates Import of Past Kash Patel Claim of Declassification

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emptywheel
The same day that Evan Corcoran pitched having Trump associates access the materials the FBI was about to seize, Kash Patel claimed they had been declassified.
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Trump's Reneges on Promised Significant Fourth Amendment Filing

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emptywheel
Trump's court filing was more performance art and serial confession. What it was not is the promised significant Fourth Amendment filing he promised.
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