Appeals court allows DOJ to continue investigation into documents seized at Mar-a-Lago



A federal appeals panel overruled a decision that was temporarily blocking the investigation from the Department of Justice into documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit issued the ruling Wednesday evening.

Previously, a judge sided with attorneys representing former President Donald Trump and appointed a special master to independently review the documents seized and temporarily blocked the DOJ investigation. Liberals and other critics of the former president accused the Trump-appointed judge of being biased in her ruling.

The panel said in their 29-page ruling that 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."

The Justice Department had argued that a special master was unnecessary because Trump could not declassify documents as a former president.

Trump has said publicly that he gave an open order to decertify all documents that were taken from the White House and transferred to his residence in Mar-a-Lago.

Raymond Dearie, the appointed special master, said in a meeting with the Trump legal team and attorneys from the Department of Justice that he was inclined to consider some documents classified on the basis that the former president's attorneys haven't said whether the documents were declassified.

James Trusty, a Trump attorney, said on Tuesday in court that the former president had "unfettered access along with unfettered declassification authority," but would not specifically say if Trump declassified the documents.

Of the three judges on the 11th Circuit Appeals Court, two were appointed by Trump and the third was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

Here's more about the ruling from the appeals court:

Appeals court allows DOJ to resume review of classified docs found at Mar-A-Lagowww.youtube.com

Hillary Clinton lashes out at critics comparing her email scandal to classified docs at Mar-a-Lago



Hillary Clinton lashed out at critics who compared her email scandal to the investigation into classified documents kept at the Mar-a-Lago residence of former President Donald Trump.

Clinton issued her response via several tweets from her official social media account Tuesday.

"I can’t believe we’re still talking about this, but my emails," she wrote. "As Trump’s problems continue to mount, the right is trying to make this about me again."

\u201cI can\u2019t believe we\u2019re still talking about this, but my emails\u2026\n\nAs Trump\u2019s problems continue to mount, the right is trying to make this about me again. There\u2019s even a \u201cClinton Standard."\n\nThe fact is that I had zero emails that were classified.\u201d
— Hillary Clinton (@Hillary Clinton) 1662476052

Clinton was investigated by the FBI over an email server she maintained at one of her residences during her time as secretary of state in the Obama administration. Critics have claimed a legal double standard against Trump based on the argument that her transgressions were similar to his.

"The fact is that I had zero emails that were classified," Clinton claimed.

"Comey admitted he was wrong after he claimed I had classified emails. Trump’s own State Department, under two different Secretaries, found I had no classified emails," she continued.

"By contrast, Trump has hundreds of documents clearly marked classified, and the investigation just started," Clinton added.

According to a 2016 statement from then-FBI Director James Comey, there were many emails with classified information obtained during the investigation:

From the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the State Department, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. Eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent; 36 chains contained Secret information at the time; and eight contained Confidential information, which is the lowest level of classification.

Later in an interview from 2018, Comey admitted that he had made mistakes in his announcement about the email investigation, but he maintained that Clinton had committed "really sloppy" uses of confidential information.

Clinton was hammered by her critics over the email scandal ahead of the 2016 election, which she narrowly lost to Trump. She has since taken up the sarcastic "but her emails" online meme to mock her detractors on either side of the aisle.

The investigation into classified documents at Mar-a-Lago has been slowed down by a judgment to have the documents reviewed by a special master against the wishes of the Department of Justice.

Here's the latest on the Mar-a-Lago document seizure:

Who will be special master in Trump documents case?www.youtube.com

NY Times prints leaked names contacted by FBI after DOJ urged Mar-a-Lago raid affidavit be kept secret to protect identities



On August 16, the New York Times published an article by Maggie Haberman naming three individuals contacted by FBI investigators looking into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified material. The Department of Justice argued one day earlier in favor of keeping the affidavit justifying the August 8 raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago sealed to protect just such information.

Citing "three people familiar with the matter," Haberman — part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for advancing the narrative that the former president colluded with Russia — alleged that Trump's White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy Patrick Philbin were interviewed by the FBI in connection with boxes of sensitive documents stored at Trump's Florida residence after leaving office.

Both men were originally dispatched to the National Archives as the former president's representatives.

Philbin is said to have been questioned in the spring about how 15 boxes of material ended up at Mar-a-Lago. National Archives officials allegedly contacted Philbin, indicating they wanted his help in acquiring certain documents said to have been in Trump's possession. Philbin reportedly made an effort to return the documents but failed.

Trump's correspondence with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and a letter to Trump from former President Barack Obama (written on Obama's way out of office) were among the items reportedly sought by the National Archives that ended up at Mar-a-Lago.

Investigators sought out Philbin and Cipollone after the National Archives referred the matter to the DOJ.

Haberman noted that Philbin is among eight people who worked for Trump who have been contacted by the FBI since a grand jury was formed this year. She also named former White House staff secretary Derek Lyons as another person interviewed as part of the ongoing investigation.

One day prior to the New York Times' publication of this article naming persons contacted by investigators, the DOJ suggested that the affidavit that accompanied the warrant permitting federal agents to raid Mar-a-Lago must remain sealed, otherwise names and information about those involved in the investigation might come out.

According to the DOJ's August 15 omnibus response to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, "Disclosure at this juncture of the affidavit supporting probable cause would ... cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation."

The filing, written by U.S. Attorney Juan Gonzalez and chief at the DOJ's counterintelligence and export control section Jay Bratt, noted that the affidavit contains "highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government."

Owing to information about witnesses being "particularly sensitive given the high-profile nature of this matter and the risk that the revelation of witness identities would impact their willingness to cooperate with the investigation," Gonzalez and Bratt urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart not to disclose the affidavit or its contents.

Notwithstanding the DOJ's concerns, Reinhart will hear arguments on Thursday on whether or not to publicize the affidavit used to justify the raid.

RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel: FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago a 'frightening' abuse of power by Democrats



Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Tuesday slammed the FBI raid of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, calling it "unprecedented" and an abuse of power by the Democratic Party.

On Monday, Trump confirmed that the FBI raided his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, calling it a "weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024." The raid was reportedly connected to Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents, which had allegedly been moved from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago property.

Trump allies, including McDaniel, blasted the unprecedented law enforcement action and compared it to abuses of power against the opposition witnessed in third-world countries

"What you have right now is an unchecked Democrat Party," McDaniel told "Fox & Friends" on Monday, saying she was "horrified" by what occurred.

"This is unprecedented. It's deeply concerning, and to see this being done through the Presidential Archives Act is such an overreach," McDaniel said.

Trump's critics have dismissed the concerns of those that say the raid was a dangerous abuse of power. Democrats have pointed out that the FBI must have convinced a federal judge that agents had sufficient probable cause that evidence of a crime Trump committed would be at Mar-a-Lago.

\u201cTrump shows a profound ignorance of the law. Democrats did not break into his home. This is not prosecutorial misconduct because prosecutors don\u2019t approve warrants. This search occurred because a federal judge found probable cause that evidence of a crime would be at Mar-a-Lago.\u201d
— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu) 1660000479

Legal experts have also speculated that the raid must have been approved by the highest levels of the Justice Department because Trump is a former president.

But Trump supporters have responded that the FBI was caught presenting false evidence to a judge to obtain a warrant to surveil Trump campaign aide Carter Page. They say the FBI's actions with Page were politically motivated and so too is the raid against Trump.

McDaniel promised that if Republicans win control of Congress in November, the Biden administration and the FBI would be held accountable for any misconduct.

"President Trump is right when he compared this to Watergate. This is the government using an agency to spy on a potential opponent's campaign. And this is truly frightening; it is not what our democracy stands for," McDaniel said.

She added, "I think a lot of Americans right now, you guys, are afraid. I talked to many people last night. They said, 'If they're doing this to Donald Trump, what are they going to do when they have a stadium full of IRS agents coming after us after they tried to do the Ministry of Truth? They're going to cancel people or destroy people's lives who disagree with them. And it is really a scary time in our country."

Watch:

Trump confirms the FBI has raided his residence at Mar-a-Lago



Former President Donald Trump confirmed in a statement on Monday that the FBI raided his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

"These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," read the statement from the former president.

"Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate," the statement continued.

"It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024," he added, "especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections."

He went on to say that the FBI broke into his safe and compared the raid of his home by the FBI to the burglary of Democrat offices by Republican operatives during the Watergate scandal.

"Here, in reverse, Democrats broke into the home of the 45th President of the United States," Trump concluded.

This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.