Judge wants Trump to put up or suck it up.
Special master questions Trump’s claims about Mar-a-Lago docs being declassified
Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master overseeing the seizure of documents from Mar-a-Lago, signaled on Tuesday to lawyers for former President Donald Trump that if they don’t make a case that any of the documents were declassified, he would determine that they’re classified.
Out of court, Trump has pushed the claim he declassified all the documents, and his lawyers have raised that possibility in court papers, though they have never explicitly argued that anything was declassified.
Federal prosecutors have argued for weeks that documents seized from Mar-a-Lago that contain classification markings – like “top secret” – should be treated as if they are classified.
During a hearing Tuesday, Dearie essentially called Trump’s bluff by pointing out that Trump’s lawyers haven’t yet provided any proof of declassification.
“If the government gives me prima facia evidence that they are classified documents, and you don’t advance any claim of declassification, I’m left with a prima facia case of classified documents, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it,” Dearie said.
Trump’s lawyer Jim Trusty said they are not in a position to fully disclose their defense or specifically address the declassification issue until they see the documents.
http://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/politics/special-master-hearing-trump-justice-mar-a-lago-documents/index.html
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