Month: August 2022

The U.S. Justice Department has finished its privilege review of the documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.  The disclosure that the review is complete was made in a court filing Monday regarding a request from Trump’s lawyers for the appointment of an outside expert known as a special master to review the seized documents.

The Justice Department wrote in its Monday filing that the privilege review team has “identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information” and has “completed its review of those materials.”  The DOJ also said it is “in the process of following the procedures set forth in paragraph 84 of the search warrant affidavit to address potential privilege disputes, if any.”

The filing came after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Saturday indicated in a ruling that she would potentially grant Trump’s request for the special master, and gave the Justice Department until Tuesday to present its arguments. Cannon had also asked the Justice Department for an update on its review of the documents seized, and a more detailed listing of the documents in the trove.

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NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion capsule, which were slated to launch as ‘Artemis I’ on a test flight to the moon, was scrubbed on Monday when engine troubles thwarted the much-anticipated liftoff.

Engineers detected an issue with one of the fuel lines as the rocket was being loaded with propellant. A liquid hydrogen line used to cool the rocket’s core-stage engines malfunctioned partway through the launch countdown, and the test flight was eventually called off after troubleshooting efforts failed. The SLS rocket’s four core-stage engines need to be cooled to cryogenic temperatures prior to launch to avoid shocking the system with ultracold fuel when ignited.

Artemis mission manager at NASA Headquarters Mike Sarafin said in a news briefing on Monday that the agency may try the launch again as early as Friday, if deemed safe to do so.  NASA Administrator Bill Nelson added that the agency will not go through with the test until the vehicle is ready: “When you’re dealing in a high-risk business — and spaceflight is risky — that’s what you do. You buy down that risk. You make it as safe as possible.”

NASA officials said the rocket and spacecraft are currently “in a stable, safe condition,” adding that engineers will continue to gather data from the vehicle on the launch pad. The agency is expected to hold another briefing Tuesday to discuss initial findings from the investigation.

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