OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has won another legal victory in his battle with the Biden Justice Department following the FBI’s unprecedented raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence in early August.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, struck down a ruling by Special Master Raymond Dearing directing the former president to provide any “final” objections and claims regarding the seized documents from the raid, Fox News reported.
The outlet added:
Last week, Dearie asked the Trump team that by no later than Sept. 30 to provide a declaration of the affidavit that includes a list of any specific items in the property inventory that they assert were not seized from the premises; a list of items that were seized but to which the description of the contents or the location of the item was incorrect; and a list and description of any item that Trump’s legal team asserts was seized but is not listed in the property receipt.
“This submission shall be plaintiff’s final opportunity to raise any factual dispute as to the completeness and accuracy of the Detailed property inventory,” Dearie said last week in a filing.
However, Cannon, who agreed to a Trump request for a special master by appointing Dearie in the first place, reviewed the order and ruled that there “shall be no separate requirement” for the former president “at this stage, prior to the review of the Siezed Materials, to lodge ex ante final objections to the accuracy of Defendant’s Inventory, its descriptions, or its contents,” according to Fox News.
“The Court’s Appointment Order did not contemplate that obligation; Defendant since has complied with the requirement to attest to its now-revised inventory and the parties and the Special Master are situated to proceed forward with the process pending exchange of the actual materials,” Cannon wrote in her order.
“Should any additional matters surface during the Special Master’s review process that require reconsideration of the inventory or the need to object to its contents, the parties shall make those matters known to the Special Master for appropriate resolution and recommendation to this Court,” she noted further.
In his previous filing, Dearie wrote he has “determined that the efficient administration of the Special Master’s duties requires the assistance of the Honorable James Orenstein (Ret.), a former United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, who has experience with complex case management, privilege review, warrant procedures, and other matters that may arise in the course of the Special Master’s duties.”
Dearie, a former federal judge, also noted that Orenstein has served as “an appointed amicus curia in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court” and “currently holds Top Secret clearance.”
Dearie has also served on the FISA court.
Several conservatives sounded off on the FBI and the Justice Department following the Aug. 8 raid, including Fox News host and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino.
“This is some third-world bullshit right here,” Bongino said. “Let me say it again, third-world bullshit. I mean every word of that. I don’t care that it’s cable news.
“I was a federal agent, I raised my right hand. And I swore to protect and defend the constitution of the United States. And I love this country. This is a freaking disgrace. A disgrace. We don’t live in Cuba. We don’t live under Kim Jong Un” of North Korea, he continued.
“We live in a constitutional republic. A representative democracy. You have a bunch of FBI agents raiding the home of a former president because they don’t like his politics? Are you kidding me?” he added.
There has been a political upside for Trump in the wake of the raid, however. For instance, in the days since, Trump shattered previous fundraising records, according to his son, Eric Trump, who posted the news on the former president’s Truth Social platform.
“Breaking: DonaldJTrump.com is shattering all fundraising records and I’m told has raised more money in the past 24 hours than ever before in recent history! The American people are pissed!” he wrote.
