Trump S Legal Team Says Classified Files No Cause For Alarm Over Strange Files

The claim by the former president’s lawyers, which runs counter to every regulation and law regarding the care and handling of national defense information, came in a court filing made in response to the Justice Department’s arguments against the appointment of a third special master for to review the hundreds of documents seized from Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property during an Aug. 8 search. Throughout the 19-page document, Trump’s legal team repeatedly argues that the search of his home was somehow an effort to enforce the Presidential Records Act — a law that has no criminal enforcement mechanism — despite numerous criminal laws cited by the Justice Department in applying for a search warrant for Mr. Trump’s home and office. His lawyers said the “discovery” of classified records in a group of 15 boxes Trump turned over to the National Archives in January should not have been enough to trigger a criminal investigation because of “the very nature of the presidential records,” even though the possession of such materials outside of designated government-controlled facilities has long been a serious federal crime. “Simply put, the idea that the presidential archives would contain sensitive information should never have been cause for alarm,” they wrote, adding that Archives staff should have simply had “continuity” with Mr. Trump to ensure any records that remained at Mar-a- Lago, even though any presidential records are government property that should have been handed over to the National Archives Authority and Administration when he left office on January 20, 2021. The Trump team also argues that prosecutors misinterpreted the Presidential Records Act to say that Trump had to turn over the records to the Archives at the end of his presidency. Instead, they say the law merely “directs a former President to contact the Archivist to ensure the preservation of presidential records” and “does not compel the former President to take specific action with respect to those records” even though the law clearly states that the records created at the White House belong to the United States government and are not the property of any former president. Legal experts contacted by The Independent were generally dim-witted of Trump’s lawyers’ arguments. Nick Akerman, a former federal prosecutor who served on the Watergate special prosecution team in the 1970s, said in a text message that the testimony was “Total bulls***, as [former Attorney General] Barr would say.’ Another prominent national security law expert, barrister Bradley Moss, told the Independent the testimony was “terrible”. “If [Judge Aileen] Cannon is on board with this shit, it’s going to be amazing,” he said. He also noted on his Twitter account that the Trump team’s latest work was, in his estimation, “garbage,” “nonsense” and “all over the place.” Former Wachtell, Lipton lawyer and prominent Trump critic George Conway also weighed in via text message, telling the Independent he looked at the flyer while waiting for a TV appearance and “didn’t see anything coherent” about it.

title: “Trump S Legal Team Says Classified Files No Cause For Alarm Over Strange Files Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-18” author: “Daisy Fieck”

The claim by the former president’s lawyers, which runs counter to every regulation and law regarding the care and handling of national defense information, came in a court filing made in response to the Justice Department’s arguments against the appointment of a third special master for to review the hundreds of documents seized from Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property during an Aug. 8 search. Throughout the 19-page document, Trump’s legal team repeatedly argues that the search of his home was somehow an effort to enforce the Presidential Records Act — a law that has no criminal enforcement mechanism — despite numerous criminal laws cited by the Justice Department in applying for a search warrant for Mr. Trump’s home and office. His lawyers said the “discovery” of classified records in a group of 15 boxes Trump turned over to the National Archives in January should not have been enough to trigger a criminal investigation because of “the very nature of the presidential records,” even though the possession of such materials outside of designated government-controlled facilities has long been a serious federal crime. “Simply put, the idea that the presidential archives would contain sensitive information should never have been cause for alarm,” they wrote, adding that Archives staff should have simply had “continuity” with Mr. Trump to ensure any records that remained at Mar-a- Lago, even though any presidential records are government property that should have been handed over to the National Archives Authority and Administration when he left office on January 20, 2021. The Trump team also argues that prosecutors misinterpreted the Presidential Records Act to say that Trump had to turn over the records to the Archives at the end of his presidency. Instead, they say the law merely “directs a former President to contact the Archivist to ensure the preservation of presidential records” and “does not compel the former President to take specific action with respect to those records” even though the law clearly states that the records created at the White House belong to the United States government and are not the property of any former president. Legal experts contacted by The Independent were generally dim-witted of Trump’s lawyers’ arguments. Nick Akerman, a former federal prosecutor who served on the Watergate special prosecution team in the 1970s, said in a text message that the testimony was “Total bulls***, as [former Attorney General] Barr would say.’ Another prominent national security law expert, barrister Bradley Moss, told the Independent the testimony was “terrible”. “If [Judge Aileen] Cannon is on board with this shit, it’s going to be amazing,” he said. He also noted on his Twitter account that the Trump team’s latest work was, in his estimation, “garbage,” “nonsense” and “all over the place.” Former Wachtell, Lipton lawyer and prominent Trump critic George Conway also weighed in via text message, telling the Independent he looked at the flyer while waiting for a TV appearance and “didn’t see anything coherent” about it.