In a rare move, Judge Jackson, the Barack Obama-appointed judge who presided over the Roger Stone trial, decided that instead of relying on the government’s assertion of the privilege, she needed to review the documents herself in her chambers, ordering the government to deliver them within one week.
“[I]n order to assist the Court in making responsible de novo determinations in this case, including any determination for purposes of the presidential communications privilege, concerning the nature and extent of the relationship between any particular communication and presidential decision-making, and, for purposes of the deliberative process privilege, whether a particular communication is both predecisional and deliberative, defendant [OMB] is directed to deliver copies of the documents that have been withheld pursuant to Exemption 5 to chambers for in camera inspection on or before May 20, 2020,” Jackson ordered Wednesday.
Another federal judge recently ordered the Department of Justice to hand over a copy of the unredacted Mueller Report for in camera review. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton was quite clear about why he felt the need to review Attorney General William Barr’s work.
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