WTF Just Happened Today

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

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1/ The FBI found 48 empty folders that contained classified information at Mar-a-Lago. Agents also found 42 empty folders of sensitive documents labeled with instructions to return to the staff secretary or a military aide. In all, the Justice Department’s search inventory list said the FBI seized 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked as secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents without classification markings. The Justice Department did not say whether all the contents of the folders had been recovered. (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press)

2/ A federal judge granted Trump’s request for a special master to review the documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago, temporarily halting the Justice Department’s review of the documents in its criminal investigation. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee — authorized an independent third party to review the nearly 13,000 records taken during the Aug. 8 search for anything that may be protected by attorney-client privilege, or executive privilege as Trump is claiming. Cannon wrote that she had made her decisions “to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances.” While Cannon ordered the Justice Department to cease using the records for any “investigative purpose” until the review is complete, the special master appointment will not impede the ongoing national security assessments being conducted by the intelligence community. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / CNN / ABC News)

3/ Trump’s attorney general said there is no “legitimate reason” for classified documents to have been at Mar-a-Lago. “No, I can’t think of a legitimate reason why they could be taken out of government, away from the government, if they are classified,” William Barr said on Fox News. “People say this [search] was unprecedented, but it’s also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put them in a country club, okay?” Barr added that he was “skeptical” Trump’s claim that he declassified everything. Trump, meanwhile, posted a deluge of poppycock not worth repeating about Barr in response on his personal social network. (Washington Post / CNN)

4/ Surveillance video shows a Republican county official in Georgia escorting consultants working with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell into the county’s election offices on the same day the vo...

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