Montage: Media slam judge after appointment of special master for Trump FBI investigation
Figures on CNN and MSNBC claimed the Trump-appointed judge was ‘corrupt’ and that the decision would benefit the former president.
Following a federal judge’s ruling to grant former President Trump a special master to review evidence obtained by FBI agents from his Mar-a-Lago estate, left-leaning media figures on MSNBC and CNN cried foul, and slammed the judge for her decision.
MSNBC’s "The ReidOut" host Joy Reid hosted an entire panel of disgruntled interviewees on Monday, with guests claiming that the judge’s decision was wrong and "corrupt," among other things.
"Trump—he always looks at things as my or mine. My generals, my Kevin, my classified documents, my judges. Apparently he’s got one," Reid said as she smirked.
She then past on the baton to frequent MSNBC guest and The Nation justice correspondent Elie Mystal, who made bold claims about the judge’s credibility and character.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Sept. 3, 2022, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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"She’s biased and corrupt. Like, I don’t know what to tell everybody anymore," Mystal said. "Like, I’ve been saying this since he took office. When you allow Republicans to control the courts you get nothing. Trump judges do not believe in the rule of law, they do not believe in precedent, they do not believe in facts, they do not believe in logic—they just believe in whatever’s going to help Donald Trump, and they’ve proven it again and again and again."
The conversation continued on over on "Morning Joe," where the show discussed the Trump court ruling at length. Former top Obama official Neal Katyal, described the judge’s ruling as a "grafted on solution." He also suggested that the ruling looked like it was meant to "protect their guy" or at the very least, "delay justice."
Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews, who was forced to exit the network in 2020, returned as a guest to "Morning Joe" on Tuesday, and echoed Katyal’s perspective that the ruling acted as a delay, and a possible short term win for the former president.
"It’s a classic Trump delay," he said.
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This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and redacted by in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search by the FBI of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. (Department of Justice via AP)
MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissman also weighed in on the decision to appoint a special master. He claimed that the ruling seemed "so out of the ordinary" and did little to help "people’s confidence" in the case, if it appeared Trump was receiving "special rules."
"It isn’t the case that because you’re the former president, you get more justice. You should get equal justice. You shouldn’t be treated worse, but he shouldn’t be treated better," he added.
Over on CNN, New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman said she found the decision "striking" and surmised that the judge was giving Trump "more deference" than perhaps other people would be entitled to.
"How do the two sides even agree on who the special master is supposed to be? Who has the security clearances for this? It’s a wild decision," she added.
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Local law enforcement officers are seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Aug. 9, 2022. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)
Jessica Levinson, a Law professor at Loyola Law School, also expressed concern about the ruling on CNN and questioned what might happen if Trump were to announce his candidacy for president should the investigation still be ongoing.
"Yes, the Department of Justice may be able to continue with its investigation eventually. But, it matters when you have to postpone because we know we are running up to the midterms, then we are running up to the presidential election. The former president is likely to say, again, he is going to be a candidate for the presidency. At which point, his claim will be, well the Biden Department of Justice is going after me because I am his opponent. It’s still a delay that changes things," she said.
U.S. District Judge from the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen M. Cannon ordered that the special master be appointed to "review the seized property, manage assertions of privilege and make recommendations thereon, and evaluate claims for return of property."
Trump's legal team last month asked Cannon to appoint a special master in the wake of the unprecedented search of his property, arguing that the DOJ's "Privilege Review Team" should not be the final arbiter of whether its actions were proper in such a high-profile case and that the review team's scope was too narrow.
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Meanwhile, federal prosecutors during the hearing last week argued that appointing a special master would delay their investigation, that Trump didn't have standing for his request and that he didn't have a right to possess the classified documents.
A Department of Justice "taint" or "filter" team had been reviewing those documents, but Cannon's Monday order temporarily halts that review.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Tyler Olson, David Spunt and Bill Mears contributed to this report.