GEOFF: WE ARE AWAITING A DECISION FROM A FEDERAL JUDGE ON WHETHER TO GRANT DONALD TRUMP'S REQUEST
TO APPOINT AN INDEPENDENT SPECIAL MASTER TO REVIEW THE DOCUMENTS UNCOVERED BY MAR-A-LAGO.
A NEW COURT FILING FROM THE
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVEALS WHAT THEY FOUND.
11,000 DOCUMENTS, 33 BOXES, SEVEN OF WHICH WERE IN THE
FORMER PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, DESPITE TRUMP'S ATTORNEYS
TELLING THE FBI THEY WERE IN STORAGE.
48 FOLDERS WITH CLASSIFIED BANNERS WERE EMPTY.
FOR MORE ON THE INVESTIGATION, I AM JOINED BY JEFF GREENFIELD AND
NPR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT CARRIE JOHNSON.
IT'S GREAT TO HAVE YOU BOTH WITH
US.
CARRIE, THE MORE WE LEARN ABOUT
THIS INVESTIGATION, THE MORE QUESTIONS WE HAVE.
WE ARE GOING TO PUT UP THE DETAILED INVENTORY LIST, THE
DOCUMENTS ARE COVERED.
I WANT TO DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO
THE 40 EIGHT EMPTY FOLDERS MARKED CLASSIFIED.
WHERE ARE THOSE DOCUMENTS?
WHAT QUESTIONS DOES THIS RAISE
FOR YOU?
CARRIE: IT DISCUSSES THE IDEA
THAT THINGS LIKE BOOKS, GIFTS, CLOTHING, PERSONAL ITEMS WERE
COMBING GOLD WITH SECRET GOVERNMENT INFORMATION THAT
SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AT MAR-A-LAGO IN THE FIRST PLACE.
SECONDLY, THESE 48 EMPTY FOLDERS MARKED CLASSIFIED, WHERE ARE
THOSE MATERIALS?
ARE THEY PART OF WHAT TRUMP HAS
TURNED OVER TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES?
ARE THEY AT ANOTHER OF TRUMP'S RESIDENCES?
THESE ARE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS FOR INVESTIGATORS AND FOR
NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIALS, WHO ARE CONDUCTING AN ONGOING RISK
ASSESSMENT OF THE IDEA THAT THESE PAPERS ARE OUT IN THE WILD
WHEN THEY SHOULD NOT BE.
GEOFF: DONALD TRUMP'S ONCE LOYAL
ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL BARR WAS ON FOX AND SAID THIS IS
EFFECTIVELY DONALD TRUMP'S OWN
FAULT.
JEFF: THE DRIVER ON THIS FROM
THE BEGINNING WAS THE UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION IN
MAR-A-LAGO.
PEOPLE SAY THIS WAS
UNPRECEDENTED.
WELL, IT'S ALSO UNPRECEDENTED
FOR A PRESIDENT TO TAKE ALL THIS CLASSIFIED INFORMATION AND PUT
THEM IN A COUNTRY CLUB.
GEOFF: BARR ALSO SAID THAT THE
FORMER PRESIDENT'S REQUEST FOR A SPECIAL MASTER IS REALLY A RED
HERRING, THAT EVEN IF THERE WERE SOME SORT OF PRIVILEGED CLAIM,
IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE THE DOCUMENTS STILL BELONGED TO THE
GOVERNMENT.
HOW DO YOU REACT TO THIS?
JEFF: I THINK WHAT THIS DOES IS GIVE MORE IMPETUS TO THE NOTION
THAT DONALD TRUMP WILL BE FRONT AND CENTER IN THE MIDTERMS.
IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE A REACH, GIVE ME A SECOND.
WE HAVE SEEN FROM THE DEMOCRATS THE NOTION THAT THEY DON'T WANT
A REFERENDUM MIDTERM.
THEY WANT A CHOICE REFERENDUM.
AS BIDEN SAYS, "DON'T COMPARE ME TO THE ALMIGHTY.
COMPARE ME TO
THE ALTERNATIVE."
THE RATHER SHOCKING REVELATIONS
ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON IN MAR-A-LAGO JUST ADDS MORE POWER
TO THE IDEA THAT THE DEMOCRATS WANT VOTERS IN THE MIDTERM TO
THINK IF YOU VOTE FOR REPUBLICANS, YOU ARE VOTING FOR
TRUMP AND WHAT BIDEN CALLS THE MAGA REPUBLICANS.
SO THE TURMOIL STIRRED UP BY WHAT WE'VE HEARD AND THE
RELATIVE RECENT RETREAT FROM REPUBLICANS FROM FULL SCALE
DEFENSE, YOU ARE NOT HEARING MUCH ABOUT ABOLISH THE FBI
ANYMORE.
I THINK JUST AS WE'VE SEEN FOR
THE LAST SIX YEARS, THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT DONALD TRUMP
THAT PUTS HIM FRONT AND CENTER, AND AS FAR AS THE MIDTERMS ARE
CONCERNED, THAT'S EXACTLY WHERE THE DEMOCRATS WANT THEM TO BE.
GEOFF: CARRIE, WE ARE AWAITING WORD FROM THIS TRUMP NOMINATED
JUDGE -- CONFIRMED BY THE SENATE IN LATE 2020 -- ABOUT WHETHER OR
NOT SHE'S GOING TO GRANT HIS REQUEST FOR A SPECIAL MASTER.
WHAT'S THE PRACTICAL IMPACT OF THAT?
IF SHE SAYS YES?
IT STRIKES ME THAT ALL IT WOULD
REALLY DO IS JUST SLOW DOWN THE INVESTIGATION.
CARRIE: IT COULD SLOW DOWN THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, THE
ONGOING AND VERY ACTIVE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.
PROSECUTORS SAID THEY'RE USING THESE PAPERS TO PURSUE OTHER
AVENUES, INTERVIEWS WITH WITNESSES, OTHER GRAND JURY
MATERIAL.
IT ALSO HAS THE POTENTIAL TO
SLOW DOWN THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
INVESTIGATION AND AND RISK ASSESSMENT, ALTHOUGH THE JUDGE
SAID THIS WEEK SHE HOPES THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAYS IT'S ALREADY
REVIEWED A LOT OF THIS MATERIAL FOR POTENTIAL ATTORNEY CLIENT
PRIVILEGE.
SO IT'S NOT AT ALL CLEAR WHY
THIS ADDITIONAL REVIEW WOULD BE NECESSARY IF THE JUDGE ORDERS
IT.
IT'S ALSO POSSIBLE THE JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT WOULD TRY TO APPEAL, CITING THE DELAY TO THIS VERY
IMPORTANT INVESTIGATION.
GEOFF: AND JEFF, AS YOU
MENTIONED, THIS INVESTIGATION IS THE BACKDROP TO THE SPEECH THAT
WE HEARD FROM THE CURRENT PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN THIS PAST
WEEK, WHERE HE TALKED ABOUT TRUMPISM AS AN EXISTENTIAL
THREAT.
I'M TOLD BY WHITE HOUSE
OFFICIALS THIS SPEECH WAS MONTHS IN THE MAKING BUT THE PRESIDENT
DECIDED NOW WAS THE TIME TO DELIVER IT, IN PART BECAUSE OF
THE WARNINGS FROM SOME REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS ABOUT HOW A
POTENTIAL TRUMP INDICTMENT MIGHT LEAD TO LAWLESSNESS IN THE
STREETS AND THE WAYS IN WHICH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS NOW
COALESCING AROUND DONALD TRUMP.
WHEN YOU SAW THAT SPEECH, HOW
DID IT STRIKE YOU?
JEFF: IT STRUCK ME AS EXPLICITLY
OR MAYBE IMPLICITLY POLITICAL, BECAUSE IT COMBINED THE
DEMOCRACY IS IN DANGER WITH A LIST OF THE LEGISLATIVE
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AT THE END, YOU REMEMBER, BIDEN SAID, VOTE
, VOTE, VOTE.
AND SO WHATEVER THE WHITE HOUSE
WANTS TO SAY ABOUT THE SPEECH, IT IS CLEAR IT HAD, FOR ME AT
LEAST, A CLEARLY POLITICAL INTENTION, AND THAT WAS TO
NATIONALIZE THE CAMPAIGN.
YOU KNOW THE FAMOUS LINE FROM
FORMER SPEAKER O'NEILL THAT ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL.
THAT'S OFTEN QUOTED, AND IT'S BASICALLY OFTEN NOT TRUE.
FOR THE WHITE HOUSE, THEY DON'T WANT IT TO BE TRUE.
THEY WANT THIS ELECTION TO BE DECIDED NOT JUST ON THE FACT
THAT THERE ARE A FEW REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR THE SENATE THAT
SEEM A LITTLE OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM, BUT AGAIN, THEY WANT
THIS CAMPAIGN FOCUSED AS MUCH AS THEY CAN ON SAYING, YOU MIGHT
NOT BE THAT FOND OF JOE BIDEN, BUT LOOK AT THE ALTERNATIVE.
I BELIEVE THAT WAS THE INTENTION OF THE SPEECH.
IT WAS THE
OPENING GUN OF THE LAST ROUND OF THE MIDTERMS.
GEOFF: AND CARRIE, AS WE WRAP UP OUR CONVERSATION HERE, AS YOU
CONTINUE TO DO YOUR REPORTING ON THE ONGOING INVESTIGATION, WHAT
ARE YOU PAYING CLOSEST ATTENTION
TO?
CARRIE: I THINK WE ARE GOING TO
WIND UP SEEING SOME OF THE PEOPLE TESTIFYING THE GRAND JURY
WHO WERE IN DONALD TRUMP'S INNER CIRCLE.
AND SO IT'S GOING TO BE AN OPEN QUESTION ABOUT THAT, AS WELL AS
WHETHER HIS OWN LAWYERS BECOME WITNESSES OR SUBJECTS OF THIS
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.
REMEMBER THEY HAD ATTESTED THEY
HAD PERFORMED A DILIGENT SEARCH.
AFTER THAT SEARCH, A LOT OF
MATERIAL WAS UNCOVERED, SO IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE TRUMP WILL NEED
TO BRING IN ADDITIONAL MEMBERS TO HIS LEGAL TEAM ON THE IDEA OF
THE CURRENT MEMBERS OF HIS LEGAL TEAM MAY HAVE TO TESTIFY AGAINST
HIM, OR BE IN A PICKLE THEMSELVES.
IT'S AN EXTRAORDINARY SITUATION OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT'S OWN
MAKING GEOFF: CARRIE JOHNSON AND JEFF
GREENFIELD, THE BEST OF THE
BEST.
THANKS FOR BEING WITH US,
APPRECIATE IT.