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Post by Webster on Feb 29, 2024 18:39:30 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Special counsel proposes trial date of 8 July in classified documents caseSpecial counsel Jack Smith has proposed a new trial date of 8 July for the criminal case over Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and obstruction of justice. Trump asks to delay classified documents trial until after 2024Donald Trump has asked a federal judge to delay the start of his criminal trial on charges of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House until after 2024. As we reported earlier, special counsel Jack Smith has asked for a 8 July start to the trial.
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Post by Webster on Mar 1, 2024 18:55:55 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Florida federal judge to hold crucial hearing in Trump classified documents caseIt’s another big day of legal wrangling for Donald Trump, who is expected in Florida for a major hearing in the case against him for allegedly hoarding classified government documents. Among the issues federal judge Aileen Cannon is set to consider is when to hold the trial, with prosecutors proposing a July start date and Trump’s lawyers suggesting August. The bigger question is whether a jury will hand down a verdict in any of the former president’s four criminal cases before the November election. The odds of that happening grew longer earlier this week, when the supreme court further delayed Trump’s trial for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election when it agreed to consider whether he was immune from prosecution.
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Post by Webster on Mar 1, 2024 18:59:06 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Mar 1, 2024 19:00:43 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump arrives at Florida courthouse for major hearing in classified documents case - reportDonald Trump has arrived at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, CNN reports, for what is expected to be a key hearing in his trial on charges related to allegedly taking classified documents from the White House and hiding them from investigators. Judge Aileen Cannon is expected to hear arguments over when to hold the trial, and what evidence may be used. Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed an 8 July start date, while Trump’s attorneys want it to kick off on 12 August.
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Post by Webster on Mar 1, 2024 19:07:17 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Judge says prosecution's trial schedule 'unrealistic'The judge overseeing the criminal case over Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents has described the prosecution’s proposed schedule for getting to trial as “unrealistic”. Federal prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith have proposed a 8 July start date, while attorneys for Trump have suggested that he stand trial on 12 August. Judge Aileen Cannon, at the pre-trial hearing in Florida, acknowledged Trump’s overlapping trial schedule and the fact that he is expected to be required to appear in New York for his criminal trial scheduled to begin 25 March, CNN reported. The outlet reported her saying: That has to come into the equation, to some extent, on scheduling. Trump's attorney argue July trial date is 'unfair'Attorneys for Donald Trump have argued that the prosecution’s proposed trial start date of 8 July for the former president’s classified documents case is “unfair”. Todd Blanche, at the pre-trial hearing in Florida, pushed for his client’s trial to take place after the 2024 presidential election, CNN reported. He is quoted as saying: A trial that takes place before the election is a mistake and should not happen.Trump’s legal team have proposed a 12 August trial date instead. Blanche said starting the trial any closer to the November election would be “more damaging” and “more harmful”, the report says. He also argued that even without the election, “we still wouldn’t be ready for this trial” before November, adding: There’s no reason this trial can’t start until late November.The proposed July start date is “an impossibility for the defendant”, NBC quoted Trump’s defense attorneys as saying.
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Post by Webster on Mar 1, 2024 19:07:49 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Lawyers for Donald Trump have reluctantly proposed two trial dates, under orders from the US district judge Aileen Cannon: a 12 August trial date for Trump and the Mar-a-Lago club maintenance chief Carlos De Oliveira, and a 9 September trial date for Trump’s valet Walt Nauta. But Thursday’s nine-page court filing from Trump was clear in its tone and reasoning that a trial should not take place until 2025, claiming that prosecutors were seeking to rush to trial on an unprecedented schedule because they wanted an outcome before the presidential election in November. Trump’s request marked his latest attempt to push back the case, having taken every opportunity to ask Cannon to delay proceedings since he was indicted last year for violating the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice. In their first request to delay the trial indefinitely, Trump claimed he could not get a fair trial while he was running for office, asking the judge to also take into account the political calendar in the months before the election. That argument was repeated again in the new filing, which also claimed that Trump’s status as the presumptive GOP nominee meant prosecutors would be violating justice department rules that prohibit overt investigative steps close to an election if a trial took place this year.
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Post by Webster on Mar 1, 2024 19:09:02 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Whether Judge Aileen Cannon will acquiesce to Donald Trump’s request for a later trial date remains uncertain. Last year, she implicitly rejected Trump’s arguments concerning the election when she set a tentative trial date for May, finding a middle ground between the dueling schedules that Trump and prosecutors had proposed. The judge could again attempt to find a middle ground as she weighs setting a new trial date, with the pre-trial phase of the documents case running roughly four months behind schedule, according to a Guardian analysis. The documents case has been mired in delays as a result of how slowly Cannon has proceeded through the seven-step process laid out in the Classified Information Procedures Act, which governs how classified documents can be introduced at trial in Espionage Act cases. Trump could have an advantage in trying to convince the judge to add further delays, after she expressed concern last year that Trump’s criminal cases in New York and Washington could “collide” with the documents case in Florida because they were scheduled to start between March and May. But Trump’s legal calendar has shifted since Cannon made those remarks in November. Trump’s first criminal case in New York, over hush-money payments made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, will start on 25 March and is expected to last six weeks. Meanwhile, the 2020 election interference case in Washington is effectively delayed indefinitely until the US supreme court decides whether Trump has absolute immunity from prosecution. In that sense, Trump’s legal calendar is now free of conflicts from May onwards, allowing Cannon to adopt either scheduling proposal from Trump or prosecutors, or again set a tentative trial start somewhere between the two suggested dates.
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Post by Webster on Mar 1, 2024 19:19:24 GMT -5
(The Guardian) In the afternoon part of the hearing, Judge Cannon is set to focus on a prosecutors’ request that she reconsider a ruling they said would allow Donald Trump to make public FBI documents produced during discovery public, revealing potential witnesses’ names. Prosecutors argued Cannon applied the wrong legal standard when she allowed Trump to file exhibits without redactions. If Cannon did not reverse her decision, the filing said, prosecutors were prepared to appeal to force the reversal. In the filing, prosecutors contended it was wrong for Cannon to require public identification of more than two dozen people who participated in the investigation, including some who may never testify at trial. Prosecutors also asked Cannon to force Trump to file under seal the most sensitive exhibits he wanted to make public – such as transcripts of grand jury witness testimony, confidential FBI reports, non-public details of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence – and redact less sensitive exhibits.
The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case over his retention of classified documents appeared inclined to reject a proposal by special counsel prosecutors that she set a schedule culminating in a July trial, saying at a court hearing Friday she found the timeline unworkable. The US district judge Aileen Cannon did not set a new trial date from the bench – it is currently set for May but almost certain to be scrapped given repeated delays – and it was unclear whether she would adopt competing schedules proposed by Trump and prosecutors, or set her own. But Cannon expressed particular reservation with the proposed timetable submitted by prosecutors, saying part of their schedule was “unrealistic”, and putting in doubt the probability she would move forward with proceedings that would mean Trump going to trial in July. The skepticism from Cannon came as prosecutors and lawyers for Trump sparred over forthcoming deadlines, which could have profound implications for the scope and viability of not just the documents case but also for the federal 2020 election interference case in Washington.
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Post by Webster on Mar 1, 2024 19:19:59 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Prosecutors complained at the Florida hearing that Donald Trump’s proposed schedule was too slow, which drew a sharp response from Trump’s legal team who told the judge it was impossible for Trump to be on trial in New York for his hush money case and attend hearings at the same time in Florida. The special counsel’s office, exasperated by the situation, at one point added “we want to keep the case moving along” – which drew an instant rebuke from Cannon who replied that while it may not be apparent to them, “there’s a lot of working getting done behind the scenes”. Trump’s lawyers reiterated that they wanted Cannon to delay the classified documents trial until after the 2024 election in November, claiming once again that it was unfair to his presidential campaign and unfair to him personally because he could not be in courtrooms in New York and in Florida. The issue with a July trial date, Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said, was that Trump would be stuck in a Manhattan courtroom for roughly six weeks starting on 25 March when he faces charges that he falsified business records in hiding hush-money payments before the 2016 election. Adopting prosecutors’ schedule, Blanche said, would make it impossible for Trump and his lawyers, some of whom are involved in both cases, to attend both the New York trial and major hearings as he is entitled as a defendant during that period before Cannon.
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Post by Webster on Mar 14, 2024 15:25:58 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump arrives at Florida courthouse for hearing seeking dismissal of classified documents caseDonald Trump has arrived at a federal courthouse in Florida, where a judge will hear arguments on whether to dismiss the criminal case accusing the former president of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House. The motorcade carrying Trump arrived shortly before the hearing was set to begin before the US district judge Aileen Cannon.
Lawyers for Donald Trump are expected to argue that the federal criminal case charging him with retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club should be thrown out on grounds of presidential immunity. US district judge Aileen Cannon will consider the motion to dismiss the case based on their claim that the documents were Trump’s to keep because he designated them personal records while he was president under the Presidential Records Act. The filing said: President Trump’s decision to designate records as personal and cause them to be removed from the White House plainly constitutes an official act within the ‘outer perimeter’ of the president’s official duties.Prosecutors in the case brought by the special counsel, Jack Smith, have said the documents Trump is charged with possessing related to issues including nuclear weapons capabilities and US vulnerability to military attack, and that the statute does not apply to classified and top-secret documents like those kept at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
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Post by Webster on Mar 14, 2024 15:33:40 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Lawyers for Donald Trump are arguing for why US district judge Aileen Cannon should order the case charging him with mishandling classified documents should be dismissed, claiming they were his to keep because he designated them personal records while he was president. The decision to designate the documents as personal records under the Presidential Records Act meant it was an official act of his presidency for which he could not face prosecution, his lawyers wrote in a 22-page filing last month. Classified information is material owned by the United States and cannot, by definition, be personal. Trump’s request to toss the charges amounted to an extraordinary interpretation of presidential power that would allow presidents to use national security secrets as they liked when they left office, legal experts suggested. Previously, during the criminal investigation, Trump suggested documents were automatically declassified when he took them to the White House residence or that he could declassify using his mind.
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Post by Webster on Mar 21, 2024 18:22:24 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Donald Trump may have been indicted four times, but each of his criminal trials is facing delays of various sorts that could leave them unresolved before the 5 November presidential election. In his prosecution in Florida for allegedly hiding classified documents, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that the judge overseeing the case appears sympathetic to some of his most far-fetched arguments, which have slowed the proceedings: The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents appears to be entertaining his most brazen defenses that could ultimately result in ensuring the acquittal of the former president.
The issue revolves around an order from the US district judge Aileen Cannon on Monday asking Trump and prosecutors in the office of the special counsel Jack Smith to draft jury instructions for two scenarios that gave extraordinary credit to Trump’s defense theories.
The two jury instruction scenarios, as conceived by Cannon, were so beneficial to Trump and so potentially incorrect on the law of the Espionage Act that it would bring into serious doubt whether it made sense for prosecutors to take the case to trial.
In her two-page order, Cannon asked for both parties to draft jury instructions supposing it was true that Trump had the power under the Presidential Records Act to turn any White House document – classified or not – into personal records: records he was authorized to retain.
The authorization issue is key to the case because Trump was indicted for unlawfully retaining national security materials under the Espionage Act. If Trump could show that he was somehow authorized to keep the documents at Mar-a-Lago, it would preclude his prosecution.
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Post by Webster on Mar 22, 2024 14:57:07 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents disclosed that she had granted some requests by special counsel prosecutors to withhold discovery materials from the former president – but had reserved making a decision on others. In an eight-page order, US district judge Aileen Cannon wrote that she had allowed special counsel Jack Smith to substitute summaries or make redactions to two categories of classified documents that Trump was entitled to have access to through the discovery process. Cannon also disclosed that she had allowed prosecutors to entirely withhold a third category of documents neither “helpful nor relevant” to Trump’s defense theories – the legal standard to withhold discovery in national security cases – and reserved ruling on a fourth category of documents. Trump was indicted last year for retaining national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago club, under the Espionage Act, meaning the case is proceeding to trial under the complicated and sequential steps laid out in the Classified Information Procedures Act, or Cipa. To protect against unnecessary disclosure of national security cases, under section 4 of Cipa, prosecutors can request to withhold certain classified documents from defendants. Cannon granted prosecutors’ requests to give Trump summaries of category 3 documents (classified documents related to a potential trial witness) and to keep away from Trump all documents in category 4 (classified documents which Cannon did not identify but wrote were not helpful or relevant to Trump). Cannon disclosed in her order that she had reserved ruling on some of the documents because they were tied up in a separate motion filed by Trump requesting additional discovery materials about bias within the US intelligence community that would help his defense. The concession was significant because it indicated Cannon had still not decided what to do with Trump’s sweeping request for more discovery, which Trump’s lawyers filed more than two months ago, and appears to increasingly be contributing to major delays in the case.
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Post by Webster on Apr 2, 2024 16:26:27 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Elsewhere in Florida, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that the federal judge handling Donald Trump’s trial on charges related to hiding classified documents has yet to schedule a start date, despite the best efforts of prosecutors: The prospects of Donald Trump going to trial in July on charges of retaining national security documents, as suggested by special counsel prosecutors, are rapidly diminishing, with the judge overseeing the case yet to issue a schedule weeks after she was presented with the potential options.
The US district judge Aileen Cannon received proposed trial start dates from Trump and the special counsel Jack Smith more than a month ago in advance of a hearing ostensibly to settle the matter in Fort Pierce, Florida, but she has still not decided when the proceeding will begin.
As a result, Trump has been able to avoid filing certain pre-trial motions that have to be completed before the case can proceed to trial, playing into his strategy of trying to delay the case as much as possible before the 2024 election in November.
Trump’s legal strategy for all of his criminal cases has been to delay, under the calculus that winning re-election would enable him to appoint a loyalist as attorney general who could direct prosecutors to drop the case, or pardon himself if he was convicted.
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Post by Webster on Apr 3, 2024 15:24:03 GMT -5
(The Guardian)A confrontation between special counsel Jack Smith and judge Aileen Cannon could further delay Donald Trump’s trial in Florida on charges related to unlawfully possessing classified documents, the Washington Post reports. At issue is the possibility that Cannon, who Trump appointed to the federal bench in 2020 and who has been criticized for decisions that have slowed down the progress of the case, agrees that the former president is immune from prosecution, under a federal law dealing with presidential records. Late yesterday, Smith signaled in a filing his strong disagreement with the argument, and that he would appeal to a higher court if necessary. That could further delay the start of the trial, potentially pushing it past the November presidential election. Here’s more on that, from the Post: Special counsel Jack Smith warned the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case that she is pursuing a legal premise that “is wrong” and said he would probably appeal to a higher court if she rules that a federal records law can protect the former president from prosecution.
In a near-midnight legal filing, Smith’s office pushed back hard against an unusual instruction from U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon — one that veteran national security lawyers and former judges have said badly misinterprets the Presidential Records Act and laws related to classified documents.
Smith’s filing represents the most stark and high-stakes confrontation yet between the judge and the prosecutor, illustrating the extent to which a ruling by Cannon that legitimizes the PRA as a defense could eviscerate the historic case. It sets up the possibility that a government appeal of such a ruling could delay the trial well beyond November’s presidential election, in which Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.
Last month, Cannon ordered defense lawyers and prosecutors in the case to submit hypothetical jury instructions based on two different, and very much contested, readings of the PRA.
In response, Smith said Cannon was pursuing a “fundamentally flawed legal premise” that the law somehow overrides Section 793 of the Espionage Act, which Trump is accused of violating by stashing hundreds of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and private club, after his presidency ended. “That legal premise is wrong, and a jury instruction for Section 793 that reflects that premise would distort the trial,” Smith wrote. The Presidential Records Act, he said, “should not play any role at trial at all.”
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