If this were still the 19th Century, when newspapers routinely bestowed nicknames on people regularly appearing in their columns—for example, Winfield "Old Fuss and Feathers" Scott, "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourne—we would surely by now be calling the special master working the case of the Pool Shed Papers, Judge Raymond "Put Up Or Shut Up" Dearie. Because on Thursday, he once again dropped an ultimatum on the former president*’s bedraggled legal team.
From the Washington Post:
In a Thursday afternoon filing, U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie — the special master — told Trump’s legal team to state by Sept. 30 whether they believe any of the seized items were incorrectly described in the Justice Department’s 11-page inventory list, which said some of the documents were highly classified. Dearie also told them to say whether they are claiming that any items on the inventory list were not in fact taken from the premises.
Trump has said on social media and in television interviews that the FBI planted items when they searched his Mar-a-Lago residence and private club on Aug. 8. He also claimed to have declassified documents found in that search that were marked classified and were highly sensitive. His lawyers have not made similar assertions in court, however, instead saying they have not reviewed the seized materials and are unable to confirm whether the government’s inventory list is accurate.
So—to the surprise of absolutely nobody—the former president* has hung these poor schnooks out to dry by running his mouth on TV and on his largely private social media platform.
Law school must have seemed like a good idea at the time.
Dearie’s order, in essence, demands that Trump’s lawyers back up their client’s claims. “This submission shall be Plaintiff’s final opportunity to raise any factual dispute as to the completeness and accuracy of the Detailed Property Inventory,” he wrote. At a hearing Tuesday, Dearie pressed Trump’s lawyers to take a position on whether the classified documents were, as Trump has said, declassified, but they demurred.
“Demurred” is a nice way of saying that you wished the courtroom had a trapdoor. Meanwhile, ol’ Put Up Or Shut Up was lobbing polite salvos at Judge Aileen Cannon, who started this whole farce in the first place.
Dearie’s approach is strikingly different from how Judge Aileen Cannon — the Florida-based district court judge who granted Trump’s request to appoint a special master earlier this month — has handled her part of the case. Cannon never asked Trump’s attorneys to explain why they thought the inventory list might be inaccurate or why they implied that some of the documents that were labeled as classified were not actually classified.
The former president* needs to think harder. His lawyers deserve that.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
