CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said that Special Counsel Jack Smith could be about to spring a move to give him the upper hand in one of his cases against presumptive GOP nominee Donald J. Trump.
Smith took aim at Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida in a scathing Tuesday court filing, contending that her request for jury instructions in the Mar-a-Lago documents case is based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise” that could potentially “distort” the trial in favor of the defendant.
On Wednesday’s edition of “Inside Politics” the network’s top legal eagle joined anchor Dana Bash to discuss Smith’s attack on Cannon and suggested that he will appeal to a higher court to have her removed from the case which isn’t moving quickly enough for a pre-election conviction.
(Video: CNN)
After suggesting that one of Smith’s “big issues” with Judge Cannon is the delaying of the trial until November so that “then maybe poof, it goes away,” Bash asked if Smith could go big by having her yanked from the case. “Do you have any sense that, as part of that, he is setting the stage for a motion to get rid of the judge?”
“So Jack Smith clearly has had it with Judge Aileen Cannon, I think that oozes out of this briefing as you said, it’s quite a sensational filing from a prosecutor,” Honig responded. “I do think there is some frustration that’s obvious with the pace of this as well as the substance of it.”
“Now, one move that Jack Smith could make here, and he sort of alludes to it in the briefing, is A, If the judge sticks by this ruling, if the judge says, ‘I am going to instruct the jury on this Presidential Records Act defense,’ then Jack Smith makes clear, ‘I will appeal that and I will appeal it now,” he continued.
“The other thing that Jack Smith might do is ask the appeals court to remove Judge Cannon from the case,” Honig said. “Now, that’s quite a drastic step. It is very rarely, not never, but very rarely taken by prosecutors, and there’s no assurance that they win.”
“But the sort of irony of all of this is if Jack Smith appeals this, and if Jack Smith asks the appeals court to remove Judge Cannon, that will delay this more than anything that’s happened so far,” he concluded.
In another lawfare case north of Florida, New York Judge Juan Merchan shot down Trump’s motion to delay the start of the trial in the Stormy Daniels “hush money” case brought by another rabidly partisan prosecutor – Soros-backed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg – that could end with the former president being sent to jail.
Merchan rejected the motion because it wasn’t presented in a timely manner.
“Defendant’s motion is DENIED in its entirety as untimely. The Court declines to consider whether the doctrine of presidential immunity precludes the introduction of evidence of purported official presidential acts in a criminal proceeding,” Merchan wrote, clearing the way for the legal lynching to start on April 15, the first criminal trial of the leader of the opposition party.
NEW: Judge Merchan has just denied Trump’s motion based on presidential immunity in his NY criminal hush money case saying: “The court finds that the defendant has myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024.” https://t.co/n4XTieC6Vx pic.twitter.com/N6BnomZtqd
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) April 3, 2024
Judge Merchan also just imposed a restrictive gag order on Trump that prevents him from criticizing his daughter, who has ties to Democrats, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a serial liar and Russiagate conspiracy hoaxer who led the failed impeachment against Trump.
“I just was informed that another corrupt New York Judge, Juan Merchan, GAGGED me so that I can not talk about the corruption and conflicts taking place in his courtroom with respect to a case that everyone, including the D.A., felt should never have been brought. They can talk about me, but I can’t talk about them??? That sounds fair, doesn’t it? This Judge should be recused, and the case should be thrown out. There has virtually never been a more conflicted judge than this one. ELECTION INTERFERENCE at its worst!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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