This post has been updated since it was originally published to include recent facts
Donald Trump has been dealt yet another blow this week in court, and this time it’s a big one as his case against the Justice Department challenging the collection of evidence from his Mar-a-Lago residence has been formally dismissed!
Judge Aileen Cannon has officially closed the case brought forward by Trump, in which she had appointed special master Raymond Dearie to oversee the review of documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate back in August this year. However after being thoroughly dressed down last week by the appeals court for getting involved in the criminal investigation, Cannon has reversed her decision and opened up access to thousands of classified documents to be reviewed by the Justice Department.
Judge’s Latest Ruling 'Utterly Demolished' Donald Trump, Legal Expert Says
On Thursday December 1st, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed an order previously issued by US District Judge Aileen Cannon which had called for the appointment of a special master to oversee the review of classified documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and to prohibit any review of the seized material until this was done - two terms requested in Trump’s Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief submitted on August 22nd.
Bwahaha! "The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so," the panel wrote.https://t.co/BUdsAapaZU
— StacesCases (@CasesStaces) December 2, 2022
READ MORE: US Courts Just Ruled Against Donald Trump In Georgia Case—He Must Be Freaking Out!
Legal Expert's Opinion On The Ruling
Legal expert Kimberley Wehle described how the panel of judges "utterly demolished Trump and Cannon both, in unforgiving language inspired by foundational principles of constitutional restraint." She added that the "vivid picture is not good for Trump," as this essentially removes the handbrake and "lets Special Counsel Smith loose on all 22,000 documents so the government can pursue the story to its logical conclusion, which could include an indictment." Yikes!
"The law is clear," the appeals court wrote. “We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant."https://t.co/VvucPGfXZK
— GodlessAmerican (@RealJeffMajors) December 2, 2022
"All these arguments are a sideshow," the panel concluded after dismantling the defense, clearly not taken in by Trump’s stalling tactics. "The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so."
Former Trump Official Just Revealed That The President's Office Mishandled Confidential Documents
Olivia Troye – a national security official who worked as a homeland security and counter-terrorism adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence – previously opened up about the Trump White House being frivolous with important documents. In an interview with MSNBC, Troye, 45, revealed that while working with the Trump administration, it was a "known thing" that her colleagues were careless with sensitive papers and information.
"I found classified information in the ladies' room of the White House one time in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building," she said in the interview. Top secret materials were seized at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property during an FBI search, seeming to show a pattern of vital documents in unexpected areas.
Olivia Troye: "It was a culture of fear in the White House” https://t.co/GAeMa9KmAs via @msnbc
— Bob White (@BobWhite22) July 18, 2022
Troye's discovery of files in a White House bathroom occurred before the coronavirus outbreak, she told Insider in another interview. Troye also explained that she "thought it was odd that someone put them down and forgot them." Troye added that she immediately gave the materials to security, and left her position in the administration shortly after. Now, she is an open critic of the twice-impeached former president, 76. "I covered it up, I put it in a folder. It wasn't marked properly," she said of the papers in the restroom, "I was not expecting to walk into the ladies' room and find a document like that."
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Trump made a plethora of headlines after FBI agents executed a search warrant at his Palm Beach, FL, home on August 8th. Both the warrant and a signed receipt from the search were unsealed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida a few days later.
This showed that 11 sets of classified documents (including some marked 'top secret') were taken from the billionaire's property. An insider source also reportedly told The Washington Post that this investigation was centered around sensitive materials, including ones that pertained to nuclear weapons.
NEW: Former President Trump claims that he "will do whatever" he can to bring down "the temperature" following last week’s FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago.
A look at his Truth Social site tells a different story.https://t.co/JjpzjqvpdK — Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 16, 2022
Those who read into the warrant also found that Trump was being investigated for possibly violating the Espionage Act and other laws related to national security. Troye also noted that while officials with security clearance usually take measures to secure materials that they view and handle, this did not always happen in the Trump White House.
"It was a known thing. People would carry documents around – especially political appointees – and traditionally you would put it in a pouch, and you would secure it, and you would lock the pouch and then carry it," Troye continued, "That's not what was the norm in the White House, and I do think there were numerous situations where you would see this kind of behavior." She went on, "For those of us that have clearances, again, you do have a responsibility to protect the information. You don't carry it home and store it for whatever number of months in an unclassified facility."
