Free Republic

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon unequivocally shot down a request by Jack Smith’s prosecutors to deny access to defense attorneys in the classified documents case being brought against former President Donald Trump’s co-defendants. The Miami-based judge, who is a Trump appointee, described the special counsel’s efforts to restrict discovery to the legal defense team in the case to be based on a “broad and unconvincing theory” and an “atextual” and “almost blithe” interpretation of the statute in question: Ouch. This past summer, Smith’s prosecutors charged Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira with allegedly aiding...

I'll have a column explaining it all after order is filed. You will see much caterwauling by corporate media types and usual suspects like Weissmann and McQuade how Cannon is doing Trump's bidding. But the blame lies SOLELY at the feet of DOJ. Jack Smith brought 2 unprecedented federal cases against a former president within two months of each other. He asked for, and was granted, an expedited trial schedule in D.C. Judge Chutkan gave Trump 7 months to prepare for trial--the typical J6 case goes to trial over a year after indictment. The classified docs trial represents major obstacles...