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I hope everybody has to call him “Master Dearie” in court 
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IANAL, but I read this:
If the government gives me prima facia evidence that they are classified documents, and you don’t advance any claim of declassification, I’m left with a prima facia case of classified documents, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it
… as fancy lawyer talk for, “if you can’t give me immediate and indisputable proof this is not classified, please just fuck off with those arguments.”
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It’s a civil case. The burden of proof is on Donnie to provide the preponderance of the evidence. No evidence? Game over.
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I think the most Trumpian thing said by Trump’s lawyers, was that the National Archives is a political entity. WTF!
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To Trumpy, the truth is a political entity that he must fight.
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For now… 
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An ad hoc, off-the-record, declassification?
Nope!
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Not even demanding proof. Just asking for some kind of coherent statement articulating why the Special Master should even give consideration to the claim that the documents weren’t classified. Even something as basic as “Mr. Trump verbally declared these documents unclassified in front of such-and-such witness and both are willing to testify as such” would be oodles more than they’ve offered so far.
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Oof. I went down a rabbit hole of using that prompt on Stable Diffusion and Dream. So much horrifying good art.
I have to limit my results here because there are just way too many.
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Seems like even biology and physics are political entities to the whole party.
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That last one just needs a little Mel Blanc to be perfect.
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If I’m not mistaken - and IANAL - does it really matter to the question before the special master? I mean, I thought that special master is not there to ascertain whether there is a breach of rules regarding management of classified documents. Rather, I assumed he’s there to determine whether there are documents subject to some other form of privilege or claim to privacy that the Trump can assert. I mean, if the documents are declassified then the FBI can have a copy of them - as can the public. And the documents would still belong to the executive branch, right?
1 Like
I want to take a moment to savor one of the best parts about this whole saga: Dearie saying he’ll have the review done by October 7th, or in about two week’s time.
He’s basically saying that he’s going to create three piles: classified government documents, unclassified government documents, and everything else.
Trump’s team is shitting bricks over this, though they really shouldn’t be surprised. Government documents are clearly labeled as such on every page, along with classification status. Dearie doesn’t even have to read them, just look at the header/footer.
By asking for proof of declassification, he is just asking Team Trump for proof of which pile he should put the government documents. As @ringsundereyes notes, the case is fundamentally about keeping government docs illegally, and Dearie is cutting straight to the heart of it. The classification question is just a matter of “slap on the wrist” or “life in federal supermax prison without parole.”
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They may donate their services ‘pro malo publico’.
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The problem here is the Trump lawyers themselves don’t actually know what they can get away with. Judge Cannon’s order basically said “assign a special master to review 11000 documents and 1800 other items”, specifically to, and I quote, “to review the seized property, manage assertions of privilege and make recommendations thereon, and evaluate claims for return of property.”
Obviously, Master Dearie has to decide who owns which property (including the documents). And so far, he’s asking a very simple question: “why does Trump have these classified documents?” (when they clearly belong to US of A)
So far none of the Trump lawyers have an answer for that. They don’t want to say it’s been declassified, since the logical question is “so where’s the paperwork, paper trail, and proof of that?” As that would be admitting that they have NOT been PROPERLY declassified, and that may be a breach of various laws.
So the best excuse so far is “we don’t want to discuss that as it may involve our defense later against an indictment”. And the only thing they dare ask for is a delay, couched as “we don’t think your timeline is realistic”.
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they want this kicked all the way to the top court, where friends are waiting.
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They don’t want to touch it. They still have jobs, Trump doesn’t.
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Too soon for that. Hope springs eternal.
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