After the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago and carted away troves of documents containing government secrets, Donald Trump argued that he had declassified everything found during his time as president.
He doubled down on that argument last night in an interview with Fox News’s conservative commentator Sean Hannity, saying that when he was in the White House, he had the power to declassify something just “by thinking about it.”
The three-judge panel that yesterday overturned a lower court judge’s block and allowed the justice department to continue reviewing the Mar-a-Lago documents didn’t have much time for the president’s argument.
“Plaintiff 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. And even if he had, that, in and of itself, would not explain why Plaintiff has an individual interest in the classified documents,” the judges wrote.
It gets worse for Trump from there: “Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified,” they wrote. “In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them.”
While the justice department’s investigation will continue thanks to this ruling, don’t expect the legal jousting over this case to be over.
Key events
Meanwhile, Hugo Lowell has a dive in the unique implications of the lawsuit filed by the New York attorney general against Donald Trump and his children yesterday, which, if successful, could take the Trump Organization out of his personal control:
Penalties being sought in the civil fraud suit brought by the New York state attorney general’s office against Donald Trump and three of his adult children could potentially result in the end of the Trump Organization, his real estate empire, in its current form.
The former US president, as well as Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, were named as defendants in a sprawling 214-page complaint filed by New York attorney general Letitia James for allegedly falsely inflating his net worth by billions to enrich himself and secure favorable loans.
“For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them. Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples,” James said in a statement. “Trump thought he could get away with the art of the steal, but today that conduct ends.”
What does this all mean for Trump? Potentially the end of his hopes for running again in 2024, The Guardian’s David Smith reports:
Donald Trump’s legal perils have become insurmountable and could snuff out the former US president’s hopes of an election-winning comeback, according to political analysts and legal experts.
On Wednesday, Trump and three of his adult children were accused of lying to tax collectors, lenders and insurers in a “staggering” fraud scheme that routinely misstated the value of his properties to enrich themselves.
The civil lawsuit, filed by New York’s attorney general, came as the FBI investigates Trump’s holding of sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and a special grand jury in Georgia considers whether he and others attempted to influence state election officials after his defeat there by Joe Biden.
The former US president has repeatedly hinted that he intends to run for the White House again in 2024. But the cascade of criminal, civil and congressional investigations could yet derail that bid.
Shortly after New York attorney general Letitia James finished announcing her lawsuit alleging fraud against Donald Trump and his children, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg weighed in with a reminder:
Bragg’s investigation is yet another source of legal peril for the former president. In August, the former chief financial officer of Trump’s company pled guilty to tax charges and agreed to testify against the organization.
After the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago and carted away troves of documents containing government secrets, Donald Trump argued that he had declassified everything found during his time as president.
He doubled down on that argument last night in an interview with Fox News’s conservative commentator Sean Hannity, saying that when he was in the White House, he had the power to declassify something just “by thinking about it.”
The three-judge panel that yesterday overturned a lower court judge’s block and allowed the justice department to continue reviewing the Mar-a-Lago documents didn’t have much time for the president’s argument.
“Plaintiff 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. And even if he had, that, in and of itself, would not explain why Plaintiff has an individual interest in the classified documents,” the judges wrote.
It gets worse for Trump from there: “Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified,” they wrote. “In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them.”
While the justice department’s investigation will continue thanks to this ruling, don’t expect the legal jousting over this case to be over.
Justice department can begin reviewing Mar-a-Lago records, jeopardizing Trump anew
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Justice department investigators are cleared to resume going through documents taken from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Last night, a panel of judges overturned an earlier ruling that temporarily blocked them from reviewing the material as part of the government’s inquiry into whether the former president took secrets with him when he left the White House. The judges’ decision makes clear Trump remains in legal peril, both from that investigation, a New York lawsuit announced yesterday over his business practices and inquiries into his conduct during the 2020 election and January 6 uprising in Washington and Georgia.
That certainly is not all that’s happening today:
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The United Nations General Assembly continues in New York, with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, set to meet his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on its sidelines.
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Joe Biden is still in New York City, where he is scheduled to meet with president Ferdinand Marcos Jr of the Philippines, visit a Fema office to assess its response to Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico, and attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.
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The House of Representatives will vote today on bills to better fund police departments, answering the demands of vulnerable Democrats looking to improve their record on public safety.
