On Saturday, Red State reported that a federal judge has granted President Trump’s request and has issued her preliminary order intending to appoint a special master that Trump sought to review the documents seized in the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago.
The article points out that some on the left are upset about this ruling:
You know you are over the target when the left-wing legal “experts” on the bird site start frothing at the mouth. Someone should ask them what they are so afraid of. How is transparency and accountability in this process a bad thing? Given the disputes over the records, it only makes sense that a hopefully neutral third party would be allowed to arbitrate between the two sides. The NARA is not all-powerful. It does not lord over the executive branch, and just because they say something doesn’t make it true or the law.
The article concludes:
No one can be certain where this goes from here, but my suspicion is that this was more about generating bad headlines for Trump than actually building a criminal case against him. I actually came to that conclusion very early on following AG Merrick Garland’s presser on the matter. I just don’t see the DOJ ignoring the Hillary Clinton precedent regarding the handling of government records, and even if they tried to go that route, there are people on record saying the declassification order existed. It would lead to total chaos if Trump were charged (and presumably convicted given the DC jury pool) with a crime that the government gave Clinton a pass on, and she didn’t have the use of presidential powers as a defense.
Still, another part of me feels like they have to go all the way here. If the DOJ stops short, it only further exposes the raid for what it so obviously was. The administration has painted itself into a corner, and that may bring about some more bad decision-making before this is all said and done.
Stay tuned. I personally think the FBI and DOJ got out over their skis on this, but there is still a danger here that constitutional rights will be overlooked and bad things will happen. Remember, the January 6th prisoners are still in jail.