Trump must thank his lucky stars that Marco Rubio and the Federalist Society gave him one of their members, corporate lawyer Aileen Cannon, to put on the federal bench in 2020. He could never have imaged that this Colombian-born MAGAt would one day be a life-saver. I should mention that every Senate Republican plus a dozen conservative Democrats, like Manchin, Feinstein, Carper, Hassan, Coons, and Warner, voted to confirm her. In short, every step of the way, since she took the stolen documents case on August 22, 2022, can be described as “Cannon granted Trump’s request” and “Cannon ruled against the Department of Justice.” She is as hostile towards the Department of Justice as Trump is.
It has been the slowest-moving case against Trump anywhere in the country, as Cannon does all she can to hold it up until Trump has a chance to be reelected. Most legal experts consider Cannon’s handling of the case so far one of the worst ethical problems they’ve ever seen from the federal bench. Most want to see her recuse herself or see the 11th circuit appeals court take her off the case. They have already ruled that she has abused her discretion over the case in bending the law in Trump’s favor. They have already rebuked her once.
Yesterday, Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett reported that Cannon suggested “that she might push back the planned trial timeline, as courts wrestle with the growing complexity of juggling four separate criminal cases and an ongoing civil trial against the former president.” The trial had been scheduled for May. But the lawyers claim they don’t have enough time prepare— Trump has always argued that the trial should be scheduled for after the election— and the foot-dragging Cannon has tended to agree.
Prosecutor Jay Bratt argued that whatever the deadlines may be in other cases, those could all change, so it did not make sense to alter the trial date in the Florida case. Cannon sounded skeptical.
“I’m not quite seeing in your position an understanding of these realities,” Cannon told Bratt. The judge said she would rule on the schedule “as soon as possible.”
…Trump lawyer Todd Blanche spent close to an hour telling the judge how “voluminous” the evidence in the classified documents case is, and emphasizing that he and Trump’s other lawyers need more time to review it. He also noted that the D.C. indictment— also brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith— came after Trump was first charged in the classified-documents case. The Florida trial date was set by Cannon before Trump was indicted in Washington.
“Everything has changed” since Cannon first set the trial date, Blanche told the judge. “There is not a single part of your honor’s schedule that is not adversely affected by the D.C. case.”
Trump is charged in Florida with dozens of counts of mishandling classified information and plotting with two aides to obstruct government efforts to recover hundreds of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach home and private club, after his presidency ended. He has pleaded not guilty.
Wednesday’s hearing also featured a lengthy back-and-forth over how long it should take the defense lawyers to review security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago, which authorities have said shows Trump aides moving dozens of boxes of documents in an effort to prevent federal authorities from learning about the sensitive papers.
Defense lawyers say they have to review many, many hours of footage, while prosecutors say they have already pointed Trump’s team to the relevant days and hours.
Much of the legal jousting so far in the documents case has centered on disputes over how soon Trump should go on trial. The Justice Department had initially requested that the Florida trial begin in December— far earlier than Trump’s bid to hold it after the 2024 presidential election.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Trump’s lawyers said one key member of his legal team, Christopher Kise, has yet to review the classified documents or talk to his co-counsel about their contents. That’s because Kise is busy representing Trump at a civil trial in New York City over alleged fraud in the valuation of Trump’s business assets— a trial that could last well into next month.
Illustrating the point, Kise called in to the hearing from New York, where Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was called to testify in the afternoon.
Prosecutors say Trump and his lawyers have had ample time to review the materials and have overstated the logistical difficulties of doing so. Prosecutors say there had been a small number of classified materials so sensitive that Trump initially could review them only in Washington, D.C., because a secure-enough facility was not yet ready in Florida. But they said that all the classified materials are now available to review in Florida.
This is the pussy DOJ doing what they've been doing... except they're pretending to do something while they are taking a dive.
If someone in an orange combover robs a bank in, say, DC, shouldn't the trial be held in DC?
But no... your pussy DOJ sees an opportunity to pretend to do... but ultimately fail... because the stolen objects were held in FL. So... evidently if you rob a bank in DC and take the loot to FL, you should be tried in FL?
But your pussy democraps were gifted by a nazi state where a nazi jury is a sure thing and you get the most incompetent but most stridently nazi judge there is... YOU TELL ME... is…
This is all so disgusting I don’t even know what to say.