Speaking to MSNBC's Alicia Menendez on Sunday evening, "The Nation's" Elie Mystal and "Sisters in Law" co-host Joyce Vance had their own thoughts when it comes to the predicament in which former President Donald Trump is enthralled.
The Fox network has spent the day going after President Joe Biden for saying that the MAGA Republican is "semi-fascist," talking about their demand to pull books from schools and ban LGBTQ children from speaking to their teachers about their orientation. LGBTQ teachers in Florida have been banned from talking about their family if they're married to a same-sex or trans person. There are some states where types of birth control are being banned and others where pregnant women are forced to come to near death because abortions have been banned unless the pregnant person is dying.
Mystal disagreed with Biden's assessment and noted that the thing he considers to be the most important is that Trump and the Republican Party are giving aid, comfort, and direction to domestic terrorists.
"We already know [they] have attacked government buildings on his, if not say so, certainly with his tacit support," said Mystal. "And they're doing it again. Right now they're going after the National Archives. We already saw they went after the FBI agents. And as this ramps up, one thing that I think we have to understand is what is going on just beneath the surface here. Trump is in deep legal trouble, all right? He has likely violated the Espionage Act. That carries real penalties and real prison time. He is in deep, deep trouble. One of the only ways he thinks he could stay out of jail is if the people who were responsible for putting him in jail are so afraid of his white domestic terrorist fans that they let politics cloud their judgment of the law."
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance, who co-hosts the "Sisters in Law" podcast, knows full well that the documents scandal isn't a typical situation.
Trump is requesting a "special master" to go through the information to ensure no "executive privilege" or "attorney-client privilege" documents were taken. It's unclear how much the government has gone through over the past 3 weeks, however.
"Special masters are used when there's a search that's likely to find a large quantity of attorney-client privilege material, for instance when you're searching an attorney's office or searching an attorney's phone, and in those situations, the parties will typically very close to the time of the search ask for the special master to come in and review the documents," said Vance.
She explained that the DOJ used a "filter team" where a group of DOJ staff who have the necessary clearance level would be sifting through the information. They're also staff that likely isn't part of the prosecution team.
"Their only rule is to screen these materials, to determine whether there is anything privileged that needs to go back to the former president, and that the lawyer who is working on the case should not see," Vance continued. "That is their role in the setting. The 11th Circuit Court just last year issued an opinion, acknowledging that the use of filter teams is constitutionally sufficient and doesn't deprive the punitive defendant of his or her rights in that setting. So, really, there is no need here to appoint a special master."
See the full conversation below or at this link.
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