Trump’s Mar-a-Lago legal victory starts search for special master – live updates

Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Live feed From 3h ago 14. 47 Attorneys working to Friday deadline over ‘special master’ Lawyers for Donald Trump are conferring with justice department counterparts to come up by Friday with a list of possible candidates to be the “special master” approved by a district court judge over the former president’s hoarding of classified documents. Aileen Cannon ’s surprise ruling on Monday has delayed the department’s inquiry into Trump’s possession of government documents at his Florida residence.

Some law experts are pointing out the “ deeply problematic ” nature of the decision, and the fact it was made by a jurist appointed by Trump himself. Samuel W Buell , a Duke University law professor, told the New York Times in an email: . css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.

5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} To any lawyer with serious federal criminal court experience who is being honest, this ruling is laughably bad, and the written justification is even flimsier. Donald Trump is getting something no one else ever gets in federal court, he’s getting it for no good reason, and it will not in the slightest reduce the ongoing howls that he is being persecuted, when he is being privileged. Cannon’s deadline of Friday doesn’t give much time for the two sides to agree candidates to act in the role of independent arbiter , typically a retired lawyer or judge, to go through material seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion.

They will look be looking for any that might be beyond the scope of the warrant or protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. The attorneys must submit a joint filing to the court by Friday. As the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell and Victoria Bekiempis report , a special master was used, for instance, to review materials seized in the searches of the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former attorneys – Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen .

Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, also called the special master request a “crock of shit”, in an interview with the New York Times . In a subsequent interview with Fox News, Barr said: “Even if [the documents] are subject to executive privilege, they still belong to the government. And any other documents that were seized… those were seize-able under the warrant”.

Read more: Judge grants Trump’s request for special master to handle seized documents Read more Key events 3h ago Attorneys working to Friday deadline over ‘special master’ Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature 12m ago 17. 34 Joe Biden plans to call new British prime minister Liz Truss this afternoon to pass on his congratulations, the White House says. Karine Jean-Pierre , the White House press secretary, was asked at her daily briefing if the US president had yet talked with Truss, who took up residence in Downing Street earlier Tuesday: .

css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} He’s going to speak to her later today this afternoon. He’s planning to call her to congratulate her, the new prime minister, and so that’s going to happen later.

Jean-Pierre said she would not “get ahead” of what the two leaders would discuss, but hinted the Northern Ireland agreement might feature: . css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} He has been clear about his continued interest in Northern Ireland.

Our priority remains protecting the gains of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and preserving peace, stability and prosperity for the people of Northern Ireland. Updated at 17. 38 BST 17m ago 17.

29 White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has handed her daily briefing over to commerce secretary Gina Raimondo to showcase the Biden administration’s recent economic achievements. “This is a very exciting day for those of us who are obsessed with and excited about chips,” she says, before going on to explain how the funds from the $52bn Chips Act will be distributed to address the global shortage of semiconductors. Critics have painted the act is a corporate giveaway , with already successful giant corporations such as Intel benefiting from public cash.

Raimondo was keen to assert that taxpayer money would be protected, and that the act was “an incredible opportunity to unleash the next generation of American innovation”: . css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} This is not a blank check for companies.

This is not for them to pad their bottom line. There are clear guardrails on this money and the department of commerce intends to be vigilant and aggressive in protecting taxpayers. Chips funds cannot be used for stock buybacks.

Chips funds are not intended to replace private capital. That is key. We’re gonna look after every nickel of taxpayer money.

Here’s the New York Times account of how the money will be spent. 34m ago 17. 12 Patrick Leahy, the eight-term Democratic senator for Vermont, has been nominated by Joe Biden to become congressional representative for the US at the United Nations general assembly.

Leahy, 81, chair of the Senate appropriations committee, announced last year he was standing down from the chamber after first being elected to represent the state in November 1974. Patrick Leahy. Photograph: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP His was among a slew of nominations announced by Biden this morning of “individuals to serve as key leaders in his administration” at the UN, according to a White House statement : Republican Idaho senator Jim Risch , 79, was also nominated to a similar position as congressional representative, the White House, alongside three private sector attorneys to serve as public delegates for the US at the UN’s general assembly.

48m ago 16. 59 Joan E Greve New polling data from the progressive firm Navigator Research offers some promising signs for Joe Biden and congressional Democrats as they prepare for the midterm elections, which are just two months away. According to Navigator’s findings , 67% of US voters support the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act , Democrats’ climate and healthcare spending package, after being told that the law will “give Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices, bring down health insurance premiums, and invest in clean energy”.

Navigator found that headlines about the act’s provisions to lower healthcare costs for seniors were viewed in the most positive light by voters, suggesting that Democrats would be well served by highlighting those policies as they seek reelection this November. A majority of voters also endorse Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of borrowers. The Navigator survey found that 60% of voters, including 56% of voters who have already paid off their student debt, support the plan.

According to Navigator, voters’ overall perception of Democrats’ priorities improved after they were told about some of the party’s recent accomplishments. After that messaging, the portion of voters who said the Democratic party is focused on the right things increased by eight points, and it jumped by 16 points among independent voters. Read more on this topic: Democrats look to prove economic credentials in battle for midterms Read more 1h ago 16.

34 It’s primary day in Massachusetts, where Republican voters have a choice familiar to those in other states recently who picked their nominee for governor: continue down the path of Trumpism and election denial, or return to the more traditional, moderate approach of the party’s politics. Geoff Diehl. Photograph: Steven Senne/AP The two candidates seeking to succeed two-term Republican governor Charlie Baker , who is standing down, offer competing visions.

Geoff Diehl was co-chair for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in the state, which the former president lost by 30%. Diehl opposed Covid-19 protocols, hailed the supreme court’s elimination of federal abortion protections and embraces Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election. His opponent, businessman Chris Doughty, believes Joe Biden was legitimately elected, and while he supports some Trump initiatives, he says he wants to focus on challenges facing Massachusetts, especially housing and rent affordability.

According to the Associated Press, the challenge for both candidates is that support of Trump may play well among the party’s conservative wing, but could be a political albatross in a state where registered Republicans make up less than 10% of the electorate compared to about 31% for Democrats and about 57% for independents. The winner will face off in November against Democratic state attorney general Maura Healey , who is running unopposed. Healey would become the first woman and first openly gay candidate elected governor.

Updated at 16. 49 BST 2h ago 16. 05 Celebrity candidates don’t seem to be working out too well for Republicans ahead of the midterms, if polling in Georgia and Pennsylvania is to be believed.

Now comes news from North Dakota, though this time it’s a Democrat who says he’s being eclipsed by a rival’s notability. According to the Associated Press, Mark Haugen has suspended his campaign for a seat in the US House, claiming he was pressured by his party to step aside for Cara Mund , a former Miss America. Cara Mund.

Photograph: James MacPherson/AP Mund entered the race in August as an independent, citing her support for abortion rights as a major reason, the news agency reports, citing a report in the Bismarck Tribune . Haugen opposes abortion and says his stance cost him support in the party, leaving him no path to victory. “Much of the far left’s concern is my pro-life position, for which I have refused to compromise,” he said in a statement.

“In my role as chair I don’t tell anyone what to do, [but] I will support Mark’s decision to withdraw from the race”, Democratic-NPL party chair Patrick Hart told the Tribune. Mund, a Bismarck native, Harvard Law School graduate and 2018 Miss America, must submit a 1,000-signature petition today to make the November ballot. Running as an independent, she will attempt to unseat incumbent Republican Kelly Armstrong .

2h ago 15. 39 Peter Stone Legal pressure on Jeffrey Clark, the former justice department lawyer who schemed with Donald Trump and others to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia and other states, is expected to rise with the cooperation of another ex-DoJ lawyer who worked with him, say former prosecutors. Jeffrey Clark.

Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP The cooperation from the ex-lawyer, in tandem with other evidence obtained by prosecutors, could help spur charges against Clark – a close ally of then president Trump – and benefit prosecutors as they go after bigger targets. Clark, then an assistant attorney general, played a key role at the DoJ towards the end of the Trump administration, which overlapped with plotting by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman and Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows to persuade Georgia and other states to use “ fake electors ” for Trump, instead of ones that Joe Biden won. In Trump’s desperate efforts to block Biden’s win, he turned to Clark for help at the suggestion of congressman Scott Perry , who had also touted him to Meadows, according to emails revealed by the House January 6 committee investigating the Capitol riot by Trump supporters.

Trump met Clark alone in mid-December, and for a few weeks talked about replacing acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen with Clark, until Trump was told bluntly at a raucous White House meeting by Rosen and his deputy, plus White House counsel Pat Cipollone , that doing so would spur mass resignations at the department and in the counsel’s office. Clark, whose cellphone and other electronic equipment was seized by federal agents in a June search on his home, worked with former DoJ lawyer Ken Klukowski , who is now cooperating with prosecutors, on a draft letter to top Georgia state legislators and the governor which falsely claimed that department had “significant concerns” about election fraud there and in other states. The letter, which was never sent despite Clark’s efforts, also suggested that legitimate Biden electors be replaced with ones for Trump.

Read the full story: Pressure on Trump loyalist Jeffrey Clark as ex-DoJ colleague works with prosecutors Read more 2h ago 15. 23 Developments in the justice department investigation into Donald Trump’s stashing of classified documents have been prominent in recent days, but let’s not forget the former president faces legal jeopardy on multiple fronts. One such place is Georgia, where Trump infamously urged election officials to “find” him enough votes to overturn Joe Biden ’s victory , and there are movements there today.

According to the Washington Post , election deniers seeking evidence for Trump made multiple visits to a county elections office now the subject of a criminal investigation for an after-election breach of voting machinery. The newspaper has published video of what it says is technology consultants Doug Logan and Jeffrey Lenberg visiting the office in Coffee county. It says the two men are under investigation for separate alleged breaches of voting machines in Michigan.

The newspaper also implicates one of the county’s senior Republican party officials: “ Cathy Latham , a teacher and then-chairwoman of the county Republican party, greeted a group of outside data forensics experts when they arrived at the elections office shortly before noon on the day of the alleged breach. “Latham has said in sworn testimony that she taught a full day of school that day and visited the elections office briefly after classes ended. “She was one of 16 Republicans who signed certificates declaring Trump the rightful winner of the 2020 election as part of the ‘fake electors’ scheme now under investigation by federal and state prosecutors.

Updated at 15. 24 BST 3h ago 14. 47 Attorneys working to Friday deadline over ‘special master’ Lawyers for Donald Trump are conferring with justice department counterparts to come up by Friday with a list of possible candidates to be the “special master” approved by a district court judge over the former president’s hoarding of classified documents.

Aileen Cannon ’s surprise ruling on Monday has delayed the department’s inquiry into Trump’s possession of government documents at his Florida residence. Some law experts are pointing out the “ deeply problematic ” nature of the decision, and the fact it was made by a jurist appointed by Trump himself. Samuel W Buell , a Duke University law professor, told the New York Times in an email: .

css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} To any lawyer with serious federal criminal court experience who is being honest, this ruling is laughably bad, and the written justification is even flimsier. Donald Trump is getting something no one else ever gets in federal court, he’s getting it for no good reason, and it will not in the slightest reduce the ongoing howls that he is being persecuted, when he is being privileged.

Cannon’s deadline of Friday doesn’t give much time for the two sides to agree candidates to act in the role of independent arbiter , typically a retired lawyer or judge, to go through material seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion. They will look be looking for any that might be beyond the scope of the warrant or protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. The attorneys must submit a joint filing to the court by Friday.

As the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell and Victoria Bekiempis report , a special master was used, for instance, to review materials seized in the searches of the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former attorneys – Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen . Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, also called the special master request a “crock of shit”, in an interview with the New York Times . In a subsequent interview with Fox News, Barr said: “Even if [the documents] are subject to executive privilege, they still belong to the government.

And any other documents that were seized… those were seize-able under the warrant”. Read more: Judge grants Trump’s request for special master to handle seized documents Read more 3h ago 14. 18 Good morning politics blog readers! It’s the day after Labor Day, exactly nine weeks until the midterm elections, and the Senate is back in session after its summer recess.

But once again it’s Donald Trump dominating the headlines, and his legal victory on Monday granting him a third-party special master to review highly classified documents and other materials seized by the FBI from his Florida mansion last month. The decision by district court judge Aileen Cannon , a Trump appointee, is expected to delay the justice department’s investigation into the former president’s hoarding of US government documents at his private residence. Negotiations are likely to begin today between lawyers for Trump and the justice department over who the special master will be.

Cannon has set a deadline of Friday. Here’s what we’re watching elsewhere: The Senate has a sizable workload after its month-long break, including a funding bill to keep the government running into the fall. Democrats are attempting to tie such a bill to same-sex marriage protections, according to Punchbowl , which could force the hand of a number of moderate Republicans seen as sympathetic.

Joe Biden has a lighter schedule today after three trips to the swing state of Pennsylvania in six days, in which he spelled out the dangers to democracy posed by election-denying Maga Republicans. He is set to host a cabinet meeting this afternoon. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will deliver her daily briefing at noon.

With Labor Day over, campaign season for the midterms has started in earnest. Politico has revealed its predictions nine weeks before polling day: the Senate is a toss-up, and the House is still leaning Republican. Topics US politics Donald Trump Joe Biden Democrats Republicans US Senate Reuse this content.