Former President Donald Trump’s confidential documents case is being presided over by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who reprimanded special counsel Jack Smith and his team for failing to provide Trump’s legal team with “timely” access to evidence materials.
Cannon considered it unacceptable that Smith wanted to store the papers more than 1,000 miles from the southern Florida court where the action was filed, in a secure location in Washington, D.C.
“The parties are advised that production of classified discovery to defence counsel is deemed timely upon placement in an accredited facility in the Southern District of Florida, not in another federal district,” Cannon stated in her decision on Tuesday.
“It is the responsibility of the Office of the Special Counsel to make and carry out arrangements to deposit such discovery to defence counsel in this District, in consultation with the Litigation Security Group for security purposes,” the spokesperson continued. In compliance with this Order, “the Office of the Special Counsel shall update and/or clarify any prior responses to the Standard Discovery Order.”
Cannon outlined the guidelines for accessing the papers Trump is suspected of handling improperly in a ruling earlier this year.
Trump hasn’t had much success in the courtroom lately, but his legal team did accomplish a minor victory last week that could turn into a major one.
Cannon stated that she was “temporarily delaying a previously set schedule of deadlines stretching from October through May for the Justice Department to make classified documents available to Trump’s lawyers and for the defence team to have time to review them,” according to Yahoo News, citing The Messenger.
Additionally, according to the media sites, Cannon was urged by Trump’s legal team to delay the trial’s start date from May 2024 until after the November election. However, Cannon has not yet made a decision on this request. However, some analysts pointed out that her choice to postpone the deadlines made it less likely that the trial would begin on May 20, as she previously ruled.
This is significant because, according to Yahoo News, detractors worry that Trump may simply try to pardon himself if found guilty of the felony charges Smith has brought against him if he succeeds in postponing the trial and wins reelection in 2024.
reportedly last week, according to The New York Times, Cannon “postponed a hearing on whether one of Trump’s co-defendants understood that his lawyer might have conflicts of interest,” and she reportedly reprimanded the prosecution team for “wasting” time.
“What was in question was a request by Mr. Smith’s team that Judge Cannon hold a hearing to make sure that Mr. Trump’s co-defendants, both of whom work for him, understood that their lawyers, who are being paid, are not on their side,” the Times reported.
“The hearing went mostly without incident in the case of one co-defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s exclusive club and estate. Three witnesses in the case had been represented by Mr. De Oliveira’s attorney, John Irving, the source stated.
Nevertheless, due to a procedural error, investigative writer Paul Sperry predicts that Smith’s case involving the secret materials will likely be dismissed in whole or in major part.
at a post on the X platform at the beginning of September, the RealClearInvestigations correspondent quoted anonymous “legal insiders” and stated, “DEVELOPING: Legal insiders say Jack Smith’s USC 1001 false statement charges against Trump will be tossed since Trump was never even interviewed by a federal agent.”