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US Justice Dept feels delaying Trump probe harms national security

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said it would appeal the Trump Mar-a-Lago Special Master order, reports Ashe O

 Any further delay in delaying criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump and the records he kept at Mar-a-Lago Florida residence could put America’s national security at risk, says the US Department of Justice.

The DOJ has made this claim in the wake of US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed federal judge, granting the former president’s request for a special master to review evidence seized during the raid independently.

The DOJ claimed that pausing the FBI’s criminal investigation while separately continuing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s damage assessment was essentially impossible, media reports said.

The DOJ said it would appeal the Trump Mar-a-Lago Special Master order.

The DOJ’s motion was filed by Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general for the National Security Division, Jay Bratt, the chief of the DOJ’s counterintelligence and export control section, and Juan Antonio Gonzalez, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

“The government seeks a stay to the extent the Order (1) enjoins the further review and use for criminal investigative purposes of records bearing classification markings that were recovered pursuant to a court-authorized search warrant and (2) requires the government to disclose those classified records to a special master for review,” the DOJ officials wrote.

The DOJ revealed that during the Mar-a-Lago search, the FBI seized 33 boxes that contained roughly 100 “classified” documents.

“The Intelligence Community’s review and assessment cannot be readily segregated from the Department of Justice’s and Federal Bureau of Investigation’s activities in connection with the ongoing criminal investigation, and uncertainty regarding the bounds of the Court’s order and its implications for the activities of the FBI has caused the Intelligence Community, in consultation with DOJ, to pause temporarily this critically important work,” the DOJ said.

“Moreover, the government and the public are irreparably injured when a criminal investigation of matters involving risks to national security is enjoined.”

An ODNI spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that “in consultation with the Department of Justice, ODNI temporarily paused the classification review of relevant materials and assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents.” The Office of the Directorate of National Intelligence (ODNI) is to lead the IC in intelligence integration, forging a community that delivers the most insightful intelligence possible. ODNI’s National Centers integrate and coordinate the activities of the entire IC, or in some cases, broader US government in the IC’s major mission areas: counterterrorism, counterproliferation and counterintelligence.

Alan Kohler, the assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, also included a statement with the DOJ’s filing.

Trump’s winning Special Master (3rd independent person to review documents seized by FBI from Trump’s Florida home) order from the Florida judge may be short lived, says the Washington Examiner in a report.

“The connection between the national security and criminal investigative aspects of this matter are grounded in the dual nature of the FBI,” Kohler wrote.

“The IC assessments necessarily will inform the FBI’s criminal investigation, including subsequent investigative steps that might be necessary…. The FBI is the only IC element with a full suite of authorities and tools to investigate and recover any improperly retained and stored classified information in the United States.”

It comes after Cannon said Monday that she “temporarily enjoins the Government from reviewing and using the seized materials for investigative purposes pending completion of the special master’s review or further Court order.” But she said that her ruling “shall not impede the classification review and/or intelligence assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

Prosecutors argued late last month that the “appointment of a special master would impede the government’s ongoing criminal investigation and — if the special master were tasked with reviewing classified documents — would impede the Intelligence Community from conducting its ongoing review of the national security risk that improper storage of these highly sensitive materials may have caused.”

Trump’s team countered: “The Government now has the temerity to argue that any involvement by a Special Master will ‘interfere’ with the now ongoing Intelligence Community review of the materials. Never has an argument against ‘interference’ better underscored the need for judicial involvement. “The judge ruled largely in Trump’s favor.

ALSO READ: Intel on N-readiness found at Trump’s home

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Trump takes victory lap over heavily redacted Mar-a-Lago affidavit

Trump rejoiced that the document was “heavily redacted” before pointing out that “nothing mentioned on ‘nuclear'” and a “total public relations subterfuge by the FBI and DOJ”, reports Ashe O

Former US President Donald Trump took an unpredictable victory lap over a heavily redacted affidavit that revealed the probable cause behind the search warrant served at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida earlier this month.

On Friday, Trump took to TruthSocial, his social media app, to ostensibly rejoice that the document was “heavily redacted” before pointing out that “nothing mentioned on ‘nuclear'” and a “total public relations subterfuge by the FBI and DOJ”.

He also condemned magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who ordered the redacted affidavit, saying he should “never have allowed the break-in of my home”.

Of course, no “break-in” was allowed, but rather a search warrant to obtain classified information, possession of which would be a felony offence under a law that the former President had signed in 2018.

“He (Judge Reinhart) recused himself two months ago from one of my cases based on his animosity and hatred of your favourite President, me. What changed? Why hasn’t he recused himself in this case? Obama must be very proud of him right now,” Trump added.

Multiple media reports in the US were agog with his reaction and outbursts of his supporters led by Fox News.

Trump’s reaction appeared to be nothing more than another page from the ‘best defence is a good offence’ playbook. If he was found to have top secret and highly classified information, then he could be in a world of legal jeopardy, some reports said, which felt the former President was well on his path to an indictment.

Conservatives, that is the Republicans and Trump supporters, took to Twitter and went into a frenzy after finally seeing the heavily-redacted affidavit for the FBI raid.

Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Florida unsealed the redacted, 38-page affidavit used to justify the search warrant executed on Trump’s Florida home.

As Fox News Digital reported soon after the document was released to the public, “20 pages of the 38-page affidavit were either significantly or fully redacted”.

After scanning through the affidavit and seeing how much was blacked out, the conservatives blasted the FBI, accusing the bureau of refusing to be transparent over the raid and not having provided clear and sufficient evidence that a raid on Trump’s home was warranted.

The Daily Wire’s Twitter account tweeted a photo of one of the pages from the document that was fully blacked-out and sarcastically commented: “This is very helpful! Thank you!”

Breaking out his own sarcastic take, Washington Times columnist Tim Young tweeted: “This affidavit is as revealing as we all assumed it would be,” while also sharing photos of sections of the document completely obscured.

Conservative commentator Carmine Sabia tweeted: “The most hilarious part of this affidavit is the media pretending that it shows something. This was done to protect President Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2024.”

The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis shared multiple images of completely redacted pages of the affidavit, commenting: “Transparency is one of DOJ’s and FBI’s passions… The DOJ and FBI are so corrupt that they’re redacting their reasons for redactions in their justification for raiding a US President’s home. However much contempt you have for these lawless agencies, it’s not nearly enough.”

Breitbart’s Joel Pollak slammed the FBI’s justification, saying: “Reading through the affidavit. So far the main complaint is that Trump’s boxes were disorganised, and that possibly sensitive stuff was mixed in with memorabilia and junk… For this, they raided a former US President’s home.”

The former President’s son Donald Trump Jr. tweeted out the blacked-out images, and commented: “Well this really clears things up.”

Trump Communications director Taylor Budowich said in a series of tweets: “The release of a heavily redacted, overtly political affidavit only proves that the Biden administration is desperate to cover up their unprecedented, unnecessary, and un-American raid against President Donald J. Trump.

“This is a grave travesty, and what is unredacted only further supports President Trump’s position, there was NO reason for a raid, it is all politics.”

Conservative radio host Vince Coglianese pointed out a crucial bit of info unable to be seen in the document. “In the affidavit, the Justice Department acknowledged that Trump’s lawyers and former officials pointed to his ‘absolute authority to declassify documents’ as president. If the DOJ explains why they ignored that point, their rationale is completely redacted,” he tweeted.

“So anyway, Biden’s FBI just raided the home of his political opponent and they don’t feel the need to even tell why. In case you’re wondering how close we are to the brink,” said another conservative radio host, Jesse Kelly.

ALSO READ: President breaks silence on FBI’s Trump raid