On Thursday, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s sealed submissions were nullified by Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida.
POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney, a senior legal correspondent, tweeted: “Judge CANNON comes out swinging at special counsel this morning, striking two of prosecutors’ sealed filings and demanding an explanation of ‘the legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate’ the docs case.”
A Trump appointee judge named Judge Cannon stated in a statement that “The Special Counsel states in conclusory terms that the supplement should be sealed from public view ‘to comport with grand jury secrecy,’ but the motion for leave and the supplement plainly fail to satisfy the burden of establishing a sufficient legal or factual basis to warrant sealing the motion and supplement.”
She then rejected the prosecution’s request.
She added that the prosecution must respond to these and other matters by August 22nd. “Among other topics as raised in the Motion, the response shall address the legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate and/or to seek post-indictment hearings on matters pertinent to the instant indicted matter in this district,” she wrote.
Julie Kelly, a reporter for a conservative website, tweeted: “I told you Judge Cannon is legit. She won’t put up with Jack Smith’s nonsense. This is brilliant—she invites the defence to bring up the possibility of grand jury abuse by the DOJ for conducting practically the entirety of the investigation in DC before deciding to switch to FLA at the last minute for an indictment.
“Cannon also won’t tolerate DOJ’s constant requests for secrecy,” Kelly continued. She previously turned down a government motion to keep the identities of more than 80 witnesses secret.
The investigation into suspected attempts to rig the 2020 election before the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, is what led to the criminal charges, which include conspiracy to defraud the US.
After the filing, Gaetz criticised Republicans in general as well as Smith.
Gaetz stated in a Newsmax interview he uploaded to YouTube that “House Republicans should immediately demand that Jack Smith present himself for a transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee in the next 15 days.”
We should issue a subpoena if he refuses to comply. He should be held in criminal contempt of the Congress if he disobeys the subpoena, making Gaetz the first prosecutor in American history to pursue a case while also facing criminal contempt, he continued.
He added that he is ready to try to exert pressure on US Attorney General Merrick Garland over the situation.
He stated, “We ought to impeach Merrick Garland if he doesn’t enforce that contempt.
We can use congressional immunities to protect President Trump, he continued, citing a statute that “gives any committee or subcommittee of the Congress” immunity. This ruling has since been upheld by the Supreme Court.
According to Gaetz, it is important to “stand up for Congress’s equities when it comes to election interference [and] when it comes to misuse of the DOJ.”
Gaetz continued, “This is all an attempt to divert our attention from the very real crimes committed by Joe Biden and Hunter.”
“It’s not a coincidence that Joe Biden is heading to the beach right now, but it’s especially not a coincidence that this indictment reads like a torturing of First Amendment-protected activity,” he continued. “On the heels of their former business partner, Devon Archer, saying that Joe Biden was functionally the closer — the guy that gave the credibility to the Biden brand so they could engage in their international influence peddling.”