The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

Hyemin Han shared the Justice Department’s filing of the more detailed Receipt of Property that lists items collected during the FBI's Aug. 8 search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence and a status of the filter review of those materials, which was unsealed by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon this morning. As of this newsletter, Cannon’s decision on the appointment of a special master to oversee documents collected at Mar-a-Lago has yet to be released. Oral arguments on the merits of the request for a special master were heard yesterday—Anna Bower reports from Palm Beach for Lawfare.

Curtis Barnes, Tom Barraclough, and Allyn Robins explained New Zealand’s decision to adopt a  new industry-led mechanism designed to provide guidance for social media platforms to enhance safety and mitigate online harm. They argue that key structural weaknesses will likely make this industry-led initiative ineffective in promoting true transparency and accountability 

Mark Nevitt explored, in light of the monthslong flooding in Pakistan, what obligations wealthier nations—especially those whose economies have historically emitted the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions—might have to nations like Pakistan that emit little but suffer the worst climate impacts.

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Scott Anderson sat down with Marsin Alshamary, a research fellow with the Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School, to discuss the ongoing political turmoil in Iraq. They discussed the players involved in this latest crisis, what led to this point, and what might come next:

Robert Chesney relayed the announcement of UT-Austin’s 2022 “Inman Award” recipients.

Jason Pielemeier and Chris Riley argued that shifting U.S. internet foreign policy priorities away from protecting global human rights online and toward a security-centric posture would be a strategic mistake, and risks harm to freedom and security.

Katie Kedian discussed the renewed relevance of classification status of the materials seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in light of the Justice Department’s 40-page opposition brief filed on Aug. 30

Tia Sewell shared a new U.N. report that details “credible” reports of torture, forced sterlization, and internment of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China’s Xinjiang region.

David Priess shared an episode from the Chatter archive that features a discussion with intelligence officer Sue Gordon, who shared stories about her experiences in team sports, lessons on leadership, her role in creating the CIA’s non-profit venture capital firm, and more.

Matt Gluck shared U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May’s order to deny Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) attempt to fully quash a grand jury subpoena issued as part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s probe into efforts to interfere with Georgia’s 2020 elections.

Scott Shapiro and Benjamin Wittes launched a new live online class on hacking and cybersecurity, available to Lawfare’s material supporters. 

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Alvaro Marañon spoke with Adam Segal and former Rep. Will Hurd to discuss a new Council on Foreign Relations report entitled, “Confronting Reality in Cyberspace: Foreign Policy for a Fragmented Internet”:

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Alvaro Marañon sat down with Max Smeets to discuss Smeets’s new book entitled “No Shortcuts: Why States Struggle to Develop a Military Cyber-Force:

Sasha Hondagneu-Messner, Steve McInerney, and Alan Charles Raul discusssed that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently proposed rule on disclosure requirements for cybersecurity risks, arguing that the proposal could undermine U.S. cybersecurity.

Gluck, Sewell, and Wittes shared their summary and evaluation of evidence presented by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in their hearings thus far. 

Jessica Davis and Elena Martynova analyzed the various ways in which the Jan. 6 insurrectionists financed the attack, as well as their legal defenses following it, and how this information might be useful in preventing their access to this funding going forward.

Anna Bower explained how Georgia Gov. Brain Kemp (R) attempted to evade testifying before the state’s special purpose grand jury on Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Sewell shared a response from Trump's legal team in which the former president asserts he has standing to seek a special master. This response is in reply to the filing that was issued Aug. 30, 222 by the Justice Department in opposition to Trump's Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief.

Scott R. Anderson, Quinta Jurecic, and Wittes argued that the Justice Department’s filing in opposition to Trump’s request for a special master is a remarkable show of strength and confidence in the ongoing probe into mishandled classified documents seized at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence. 

Bob Bauer argued that calls for the Justice Department to judge the political implications and consequences of a potential Trump prosecution are misplaced.

Han and Sewell shared the Justice Department’s motion opposing Trump’s Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief.

Anderson, Gluck, Han, and Tyler McBrien analyzed the substance and implications of the unsealed search warrant affidavit for the Mar-A-Lago search.  

Sewell posted a U.S. magistrate judge’s Aug. 26 report recommending that a federal district court judge deny a motion to use frozen assets from  Afghanistan’s central bank to compensate the relatives of Sept. 11 victims.

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Anderson sat down with Leah Sottile to discuss her new book “When the Moon Turns to Blood”:

Howell also shared an episode of Rational Security in which Alan Rozenshtein, Jurecic, and Anderson talked through the week’s big national security news stories including the Defense Department's newly released Civilian Harm Mitigation Action Plan, rising tensions around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, and more:

Han shared the annual digest from the United States State Department Office of the Legal Adviser which provides a record of the U.S. government’s activities in public and private international law.

Han also shared a preliminary order issued by a federal judge giving notice of the court's intent to grant Trump's request to appoint a special master to oversee materials obtained during the FBI's search of his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Mara Revkin reviewed Jason Lyall’s book entitled “Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War.”

Elise Thomas and Dean Jones analyzed the Justice Department's indictment of Russian national Alexander Ionov. 

And Marc Galasco examined the Defense Department’s new Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan.  

And that was the week that was.