In a scathing filing, the special counsel pushed back on Judge Aileen Cannon’s interpretations of laws that could define the case against Trump

Special Counsel Jack Smith went toe-to-toe with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon over her requests for jury instructions in Donald Trump’s classified documents case.

In a scathing filing submitted Tuesday, Smith accused Cannon of operating on an “unstated and fundamentally flawed legal premise” when she requested that the parties in the case draft different versions of their proposed jury instructions based on their competing interpretations of laws governing classified materials and presidential records.

Trump has argued that his retention of classified documents after his ouster from the White House was perfectly legal. Claiming that he both unilaterally telepathically declassified the documents, and that they were simply personal records he was already authorized to take. The former president’s trial on 40 charges related to his alleged mishandling of the documents is scheduled to begin in May, but will likely be delayed.

    • Melllvar
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      133 months ago

      Obstruction of justice*

    • @stoly@lemmy.world
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      23 months ago

      I guarantee that it’ll come back to bite her. The judiciary does not take kindly to rogue judges.

      • @meat_popsicle@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Ahh yes. Just like all those penalties for Matthew Kacsmaryk that will arrive aaaaany day now.

        Federal judges serve for life. There’s not a whole lot anybody can do about this.

        • @stoly@lemmy.world
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          13 months ago

          Courts self manage their own judges. Usually an appeals court or a state supreme court will punish judges for misconduct. At the Federal level, I’m not sure if it starts at an appeals court or the SCOTUS, but they can definitely punish and remove federal judges as well. Impeachment is also an option, but that’s a hard one to do.

          • @techt@lemmy.world
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            83 months ago

            I hear you, and those things seem nice at a glance, but I don’t agree with your sense of guarantee. We’re seeing an upending of things that “usually” happen, or that “definitely can” happen, especially with “self-managed” entities such as the SCOTUS. Have you seen judges actually get held accountable recently, even locally?

  • theodewere
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    293 months ago

    i don’t want to hear about Jack’s feelings, i want to hear about his results

    • @xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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      153 months ago

      Nah, this is good to hear about - I don’t really care about his feelings either but Cannon is a corrupt and incompetent judge.

      • @grue@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Cannon is a corrupt and incompetent judge.

        Corrupt, yes, but I’m not so sure about incompetent. If she were incompetent then there would be tricks to help Trump that she missed, but as far as I know she’s executed every opportunity for corruption perfectly.

        Do you have evidence that she’s anything less than a goddamned veritable virtuoso of corrupt traitorousness?

    • @Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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      93 months ago

      I Am Jack’s Complete Lack of Surprise
      I Am Jack’s Inflamed Sense of Rejection
      I Am Jack’s Smirking Revenge

    • @stoly@lemmy.world
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      83 months ago

      The article is editorializing through that headline and it is based on the magazine’s or the author’s interpretation of the filing. No way that Jack Smith has expressed emotions publicly on this matter.

  • @stoly@lemmy.world
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    243 months ago

    She’s going to eventually get herself removed from the bench and possibly disbarred for this abusive behavior.

    • @minkymunkey_7_7@lemmy.world
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      113 months ago

      She ain’t gonna do shit and Trump will never face any real consequences ever except from historians 30 years after the next Great War. After the last literal 11th hour reduced bailout it suddenly became all clarity and nihilistic wisdom to me. Trump has already destroyed America. It’s already too late.

      • @stoly@lemmy.world
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        53 months ago

        Trump didn’t destroy the country. He just stepped into the gaping wound that the narcissists that populate this land left open.

        • Drusas
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          63 months ago

          More like he stuck his greedy little hands in there and pulled out the entrails.

    • @dhork@lemmy.world
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      103 months ago

      She’ll just get a commentator gig on NewsMax, which will likely pay a lot more. Or, she could go to Fox, but would probably have to bleach her hair first.

      • @stoly@lemmy.world
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        63 months ago

        Sure, but she won’t be an attorney or judge, which is the good thing. NewsMax is a bubble that we can ignore.

  • Drusas
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    143 months ago

    Yeah. We all are. Her having any part of that case has been a total farce.

  • BarqsHasBite
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    3 months ago

    she requested that the parties in the case draft different versions of their proposed jury instructions based on their competing interpretations of laws governing classified materials and presidential records.

    Can someone inform me how jury instructions are normally created?

    This “defendant and prosecutor write your jury instructions” seems like a blatant attempt to get the more favorable one to Trump (the lawyers will always try the most extreme reading) and then try to wipe her hands clean.

  • @chakan2@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    So…everyone in the world saw this coming. Everyone except Jack.

    Trump just needs to delay another 6 months and he won.

    • @snooggums@midwest.social
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      563 months ago

      Jack most likely saw it coming, he has just been following court protocols which requires the judge to do the dumb thing first and he needs to respond to it.

      • @dhork@lemmy.world
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        423 months ago

        Yeah, look at the man’s resume. He’s prosecuted politicians, spies, and big names. He worked at the Hague for a while and prosecuted actual war criminals from the war in Kosovo.

        He’s had plenty of experience figuring out ways around blatant government corruption. I bet he never dreamed he’d have to use those tactics in Florida, though.

      • @Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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        123 months ago

        He’s following the rules and being perfectly thorough. He is dotting every “i” and crossing every “t” and he is doing it because if he does any less he leaves unnecessary doors open for Trump to appeal the case if he looses. I just hope that Jack Smith’s competence is enough to counter Cannon’s malfeasance.

        • @stoly@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          And this is also why it takes him time to respond whereas Trump’s lawyers are just spraying spaghetti at the court in hopes that some of it sticks to a wall somewhere.

          • @Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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            23 months ago

            Be that as it may, it would be foolish to try and rush things and risk giving the defense a valid reason to appeal. Slow and steady wins this race.

        • @stoly@lemmy.world
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          53 months ago

          I’ve been chanting that mantra since W’s second election. His performance in his first term and in the debates were so abysmal that I thought it was over. Nope, turned out that people would rather have a beer with W than with John Kerry and that somehow was the important thing.

          For anyone who is unaware, this really did happen.

      • @chakan2@lemmy.world
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        23 months ago

        The polls say otherwise, and I’m not convinced the D’s aren’t just throwing it at this point. Not having to do shit and saying “Trump Bad” is lucrative.