Justice Department's offer is almost a 'face-saving' option for Trump-appointed judge: former prosecutor
Former U.S. Attorney, now law professor, Barbara McQuade, noted on Sunday that it's clear even Donald Trump's lawyers think his statements are unsound, because they're not included in the legal filings before his hand-picked judge, Alieen Cannon.
"It’s telling that Trump’s lawyers do not repeat in court filings his claims of declassification or planted evidence. In court, lies can get you sanctioned or disbarred. But Trump’s baseless claims undermine public trust and fuel extremist violence," she said on Sunday morning.
When asked about it on MSNBC that evening, she said that the Justice Department proposal made on Friday gives Judge Cannon an option where she wouldn't continue to wear the albatross of a humiliating ruling for the remainder of her judicial career.
"We are expected to hear the Trump lawyers' response to the suggestion the Justice Department made on Friday, which was to curve out from the special master's review of the classified documents," McQuade began. "They explained it's essential to this risk assessment that they want to do for the damage that has been done in the intelligence community, with the mishandling of these documents. It will be interesting to see. It's really an interesting offer. It's almost a face-saving opportunity for the judge, to grant this relief. I think the Justice Department will be very happy to get it. We also expect some response to these names we may get as special master. We've got the four names there, the judge will make a decision on which of those names will be the special master."
Meanwhile, due to Judge Cannon's decision, the FBI can't do a threat assessment of the documents obtained at Mar-a-Lago. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and everyone else on the Intelligence Committee signed a letter asking for a briefing on the threat assessment and the intelligence that could have been put in jeopardy due to them being easily accessible in Palm Beach.
None of that work can be done because Judge Cannon has shut down access to the stolen documents. So, intelligence officials can't do a threat assessment and members of both parties in the House and Senate can't be briefed on the dangers brought by the theft.
Author and reporter Charlie Savage explained that by law, the CIA isn't allowed to do things on domestic soil and their operations extend only to international matters.
She went on to address Trump's lawyer's claim that his goal is to get Trump through the legal crisis without him being prosecuted.
"It's a great goal," McQuade said. "It seems like an unlikely goal. I think one of the biggest challenges any lawyer has in representing Donald Trump is that sometimes he's his own worst enemy. Most lawyers want, above all else, what they referred to as client control. That is, I'm gonna give you some advice and expect you to follow it. Instead, what we see is the lawyer filing these responses in court say one thing and then Donald Trump saying things that they are not filing in court."
Her examples were things like repeating Trump's claims that he declassified all the documents or that they were planted by the FBI.
"You will note none of those things appeared in the court filing, where lawyers are bound by ethical obligations and can be sanctioned or disciplined for making false statements and court filings," said McQuade. "Just managing that client who wants to be talking in the public arena, I think, is the biggest challenge here."
Already one of Trump's lawyers, Christina Bobb, is going to face problems due to her signature on a court filing that Trump handed over all of the documents. It turns out that wasn't true, leading to the FBI filing for a search warrant.
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