Legal Follies

“We’re talking about incredibly valuable secrets that the Russians would have been after. The Russians would have been trying to penetrate Mar a Lago day and night and very possibly did recruit spies to obtain these documents.”

[Jesse to control room DAMMIT STOP SCREAMING AT ME] https://t.co/jIxTKGFFAi

— Peter Strzok (@petestrzok) August 25, 2022

"We don’t even know if Mar-A-Lago is a real place! ‘They’ just say it is, but ‘they’ lie!”

.@KristenhCNN and @GabbyOrr_ break down their
new reporting inside Trump world, where some are growing increasingly concerned
about Trump’s legal representation following the Mar-a-Lago search. Watch the
two discuss with @jaketapper on @TheLeadCNN: https://t.co/Dw4KPEJN5R

— CNN (@CNN) August 25, 2022

Gee, what’s there to worry about?

I know it's stupid, but you all seem to like this stuff as much as me. Today, Trump's lawyers in that allegedly ~original~ case trying to get a special master are having more difficulties. The Florida lawyer with a gmail address is trying to change it to outlook. Unsuccessfully. pic.twitter.com/BlpMhEExiy

— Chris “Subscribe to Law Dork!” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) August 25, 2022

This is so bad it literally shouldn’t happen. This is the lawyer in Florida, already licensed in the federal district. Knowing the local rules should not be so difficult.

In what may be the legal fight of his life Trump is now repped by a parking garage general counsel, a newbie trademark attorney and a third lawyer who focuses on residential property insurance claims in Ft. Lauderdale. https://t.co/ae05vCyQRk via @TPM

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 25, 2022

But it’s not surprising. This, however, is:

Oh, yes. That. Unlike what basically any lawyer expected — immediately asking the judge who granted the warrant, Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart, to appoint a special master — the Trump legal team waited two weeks and made their request in the form of a new lawsuit. In a cover sheet with the filing, the lawyers characterize the filing as an “Original Proceeding” and don’t even mention the federal case number assigned to the warrant as a “related case.” And yet, their filing itself is characterized as a “motion,” which comes in a case — not a complaint, which starts a case. The filing also mentions the search warrant case and case number on page 6 of the motion, despite not having called it a related case on the cover sheet.

I had assumed Trump’s lawyers had filed a new lawsuit via a “Complaint.” That’s a legal term of art. It’s the document that starts a lawsuit by setting out basic facts and law you want the judge to rule on.

According to this they filed a cover sheet so this would be an “original proceeding,” but they didn’t originate anything. I mean, I don’t know how you do that. This is like a sitcom scenario written by lawyers for lawyers. It’s not funny but it’s so stupid it couldn’t happen in reality. And then it did.

So they didn’t start a new suit, they just filed a motion written by Trump and (sorta) edited by (kinda) lawyers. No wonder:

In another order, Cannon was, arguably, even more harsh on the lawyers when she pretty much asked Trump’s crackerjack legal team all of the questions: How can I hear this case? What do you want? Why aren’t you talking to the judge who actually issued the warrant?

The judge is literally asking:  “Did you mean to do this? Because this is not how this works! This is not how any of this works!” If they don’t file a complaint by Friday that explains what they want and why they need a new suit in a new court to get it, the court has no choice but to throw this…whatever it is…out of court.

I’m surprised these people ever got law licenses.