Ombudsman for Secret Files
Special Master Raymond Dearie has a troubled history with Donald Trump
Raymond Dearie on a court drawing from 2015.
© Elizabeth Williams / Picture Alliance
In the case of the secret files confiscated from him, Donald Trump has called in a kind of ombudsman. He is to oversee the evaluation of the documents. Now it’s clear who this Special Master will be. He has a history with Trump.
The name sounds half like pre-industrialization, half like an 80s detective series. But, that’s the official name for this type of ombudsman in the USA: Special Master. Appointed by a judge, the task of the Special Master is to independently implement or accompany court orders. A Special Master was appointed in the course of 9/11 victim lawsuits and also in the case of the monopoly lawsuit against Microsoft in 2001. So these are big issues for which the position is appointed and Donald Trump can of course not be missing.
Raymond Dearie to review Trump files
Around three weeks after the ex-US President’s house was searched, a district judge granted his request to appoint such a special master to evaluate the documents confiscated from him. Now, another two weeks later, it is clear who the ex-US President’s team and the US Department of Justice have agreed on as the investigative authority: Raymond Dearie, 78, a retired federal judge. He was proposed by the Trump side, although both share a rather difficult history.
Dearie spent seven years at FISA, the US Court for the Oversight of US Foreign Intelligence Services. A few years ago, however, the lawyers made a few mistakes, one of which was demonstrably due to Dearie – and it concerned investigations into Trump adviser Carter Page, of all people. He was targeted by the FBI and the Justice Department in the course of the Russia affair. Dearie approved at least one out of four surveillance requests. But: “The entire investigation was riddled with errors and negligence, which is why two of the FISA decisions in the case were declared invalid,” notes CNN.
Dearie: once part of the “Deep State”?
From the point of view of the former head of state, the court and its lawyers belong to the very authorities that would organize a “witch hunt” against him and his people, as Trump calls the countless investigations against him. A political campaign with no solid evidence to silence him. He expressly described the secret service court as part of the so-called “Deep States”. That’s what conspiracy theorists call an alleged state within a state that secretly pulls the strings, taking action primarily against conservative and right-wing circles.
Why Donald Trump and his team still put him on their list of candidates is not entirely clear. It may have been chosen as a kind of lowest common denominator to accommodate the Justice Department. In 1986 he was appointed to a New York federal court by the then conservative US President Ronald Reagan.
This profound distrust of federal agencies also meant that the Justice Department’s proposed special masters candidates were all rejected by the Trump team — for “specific reasons,” as it was only vaguely put. However, it is not yet certain whether the compromise candidate Dearie will actually become the ombudsman. On the one hand, the judge responsible for his appeal still has to agree, on the other hand, the Department of Justice, which is also the supreme prosecuting authority in the USA, has lodged an objection to the appointment of a Special Master – the result is still pending.
Access to files just a formal act?
One of the reasons why Donald Trump is insisting on the appointment of a special master is that he fears the FBI could also see correspondence between him and his lawyers. If the federal police also confiscated it during their raid, it is protected by the attorney-client privilege. It is unclear what exactly is discussed in the letters. However, the former head of state is currently involved in further legal difficulties. There are allegations against him of balance sheet fraud, electoral interference and sexual abuse.
Raymond Dearie’s job would be to identify potentially sensitive mail so it doesn’t end up in the hands of the FBI. However, the federal police have announced that they have already viewed all the documents from Mar-a-Lago. It is possible that the Special Master’s inspection of files will only become a purely formal act without further consequences.
Sources: DPA, AFP, CNN