Jack Smith’s Justice Dept. efforts in dealing with Federal Judge Aileen cannon has NOT had many successes….
The word on the street is that the judge , who was appointed by Donald Trump, IS working to give the ex-President leeway to delay her trail by being ‘lost’ and in ‘over’ her head with the case…
So?
Some of us are VERY surprised with this…
The judge handling the classified documents case against Donald Trump has granted prosecutors’ request to delete the names of potential witnesses from public court filings, but turned down a more sweeping request that even their statements be kept under wraps.
Special counsel Jack Smith argued that the witnesses were likely to face threats and harassment if their identities were revealed, and that even making their accounts public could lead to their public identification.
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon accepted the general thrust of the prosecutors’ argument, but her 24-page opinion is replete with criticism of Smith’s team for being slow to present their concerns in detail, for failing to comply with court policies and procedures and for not providing adequate justification for the the broad sealing of court records.
It’s the latest decision in which Cannon has sided with prosecutors in an opinion that is primarily critical of their tactics. And despite the result it’s yet another indication of tension between the Trump-appointed judge and Smith’s team, even as the decision will resolve a significant source of that tension: Cannon’s earlier ruling that appeared to permit defendants to reveal identifying information about potential trial witnesses.
Cannon’s opinion does not delve into the nature or degree of threat to witnesses, even as she concludes in vague terms that those concerns are sufficient to justify the bid to keep witness names secret at least until a trial….
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Cannon’s ruling could break a logjam in the case, with numerous motions piling up under seal and an unclear path toward hearings on those issues. Cannon complained at a court session last month that some of the motions were effectively stuck because of prosecutors’ secrecy requests.
Trump is charged with 32 counts of retaining classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office — and then obstructing efforts by the government to reclaim them.
However, the case continues to face logistical hurdles, most significantly the fact that Trump is set to go on trial next week in a Manhattan courtroom on charges he falsified business records related to payments made during the 2016 campaign in an effort to prevent women from going public with their stories alleging sexual affairs with Trump….
Note….