US v. Trump - Espionage Act - (9:23-cr-80101) District Court, S.D. Florida

[Sequoia32]

This can't be right. Surely there is a way the defendants can "interview" the witnesses.

What do they do in mob cases?

Can the witnesses get security?

[chancery]

Judge Cannon is picking a fight.

From what little I've read about the ultra-specialized world of the Classified Information Procedures Act, this may well be reversible error on her part, and CIPA provides for immediate interlocutory appeal.

It's not likely to lead the Eleventh Circuit to remove her from the case, so put your popcorn back in its bag.

[much ado]

Judge Cannon is picking a fight.

From what little I've read about the ultra-specialized world of the Classified Information Procedures Act, this may well be reversible error on her part, and CIPA provides for immediate interlocutory appeal.

It's not likely to lead the Eleventh Circuit to remove her from the case, so put your popcorn back in its bag.

[RTH10260]

Hypothetical question (for the time being): would an alternate judge get assigned to take this case in Cannon's district, or would the case be moved to a different district (and judge)?

[chancery]

Same district, although not necessarily the same division of the district.

But removing Judge Cannon isn't on, unless, I suppose, there's something extraordinary in the sealed document that causes an Eleventh Circuit panel to freak out. But it's more realistic to imagine that she might get messed up in a car crash and need to take a leave of absence.

[jez]

But it's more realistic to imagine that she might get messed up in a car crash and need to take a leave of absence.

I may know a guy...

(joking.... maybe....)

[Volkonski]

Texas woman who threatened judge overseeing Trump’s Mar-a-Lago case sentenced to three years in prison

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/10/politics ... index.html

A Houston woman who left a series of threatening voicemail messages for a federal judge overseeing one of former President Donald Trump’s legal fights in Florida has been sentenced to serve 37 months in federal prison for “using interstate communications to threat, kidnap or injure,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced Friday.

In the voicemails, Tiffani Shea Gish threatened to have US District Judge Aileen Cannon assassinated in front of her family for “helping” the former president, as CNN previously reported. Cannon handled the former president’s request for a special master to review documents and other items the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago.

“Donald Trump has been disqualified long ago, and he’s marked for assassination. You’re helping him, ma’am,” Gish allegedly said in one of the voicemails.

CNN has reached out to Gish’s public defender for comment, but has not heard back as of Saturday morning.

Gish pleaded guilty November 9, 2023, court records show.

Following her prison sentence, US District Judge David Hittner ordered Gish to serve three years of supervised release, the sentencing order reads. According to the release, Hittner noted that he was concerned “for the safety of the public and protecting the judiciary” when handing down the sentence.

[sugar magnolia]

3 years for threatening a judge (who doesn't think unredacted witness info is necessary) seems a bit harsh, don't you think?

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Think about it. A federal judge is sentencing a woman for threatening another federal judge. In my experience in law and after, that’s like threatening the Pope.

[Volkonski]

Trump expected to attend court hearing for classified documents trial

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... attendance

Donald Trump is attending a court hearing on Monday where his lawyers will present their defense theories to the judge presiding in the criminal case over his retention of classified documents and obstruction of justice, according to two people familiar with his plans.

The presence of the former president in the courtroom could raise the stakes for the US district judge, Aileen Cannon, as she decides whether prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith should be permitted to withhold or redact certain classified documents that will be turned over in discovery.

The hearing taking place behind closed doors at federal district court in Fort Pierce, Florida, started at 9.30am and is being conducted “ex parte”, meaning prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers will have separate sessions to make their arguments to the judge.

Trump would attend for the first part of the day, when his lawyers are scheduled to present their defense theories, as they ask the judge to reject as much of the redactions or substitutions to the classified documents being proposed by prosecutors as possible, the people familiar with the matter said.

[Rolodex]

Trump attending to make sure Cannon remembers who put her there.

[AndyinPA]

Trump attending to make sure Cannon remembers who put her there.

Good call.

[Suranis]

It could backfire on him. If he starts his usual Sighing, harumphing and talking loudly to his lawyer, it could piss her off. She is "helping this idiot and all he is doing is bitching in HER COURT!"

[Rolodex]

It could backfire on him. If he starts his usual Sighing, harumphing and talking loudly to his lawyer, it could piss her off. She is "helping this idiot and all he is doing is bitching in HER COURT!"

It's unfortunate that no one neutral will be there to report on how it goes (how he behaves). Jack Smith's team won't even be in there, but they're not very leaky anyway.

[RTH10260]

FWIW

Ex-prosecutor: Court may “politely recuse” Judge Cannon after Jack Smith calls out “clear error”

Gabriella Ferrigine
Mon, February 12, 2024 at 5:26 PM GMT+1·5 min read

Special counsel Jack Smith in a recent court filing cited case law that Judge Aileen Cannon, the MAGA-appointed federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, previously worked on as a way of reminding her why she should rule against the former president.

As Trump's team of attorneys continues to paint his criminal case as a Biden-administration-led, politically motivated "witch hunt," they've also asked the Cannon mandate Smith and his team of prosecutors to turn over the trove of evidence they have against Trump, despite the fact that the defense team has already received more than a million pages of evidence, per The Daily Beast.

As Trump's legal team's strategy to delay the trial becomes increasingly apparent, Smith's filing pointed toward a case from Cannon's past, recalling how she worked to establish boundaries around such tactics.

The Daily Beast noted that Cannon, while serving as a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice in South Florida in 2015, worked on a sting operation in which two men were convicted after trying to loot a phony stash house. One of the men appealed his conviction, arguing that he was the victim of "unfair prosecution" because the majority of stash house sting operations see Black and Hispanic people apprehended. In 2021, Cannon's former team won the case when the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals emphasized the need for a "demanding burden" to make such a claim. Though she was already acting as a judge, Smith's citing of the aptly named U.S. vs. Cannon is meant to underscore Trump's own claim of "selective prosecution" in his documents case. “A request to discover such material is, instead, ‘governed by well-settled and binding precedent in [Armstrong] and [Jordan,]” prosecutors wrote.

Though lawyers often cite past cases, as The Daily Beast pointed out, Smith's "decision to point Cannon to her own case also sends a message — and not one meant for Trump’s lawyers or even the American public paying close attention to the historic case."

"Smith’s choice to cite case law that Cannon actually worked could be viewed as a reminder to the judge that she knows better than to side with Trump on this — especially on such a narrow topic as bias-alleging document requests," The Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery wrote.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-prosecuto ... 27257.html
(original: Salon)

[RTH10260]

FWIW - don't know how details of a closed door meeting are known

Trump lawyers reveal defense strategy to Judge Cannon in private hearing

Travis Gettys
February 12, 2024 11:35AM ET

Donald Trump's lawyers revealed their defense strategy to U.S. District judge Aileen Cannon in a private meeting.

The former president attended a court hearing Monday morning in Fort Pierce, Florida, where he and his attorneys met with the judge for a closed-door hearing to discuss their trial strategy and other topics outside the presence of prosecutors, who will meet with Cannon afterward, reported The Guardian.

Trump's attorneys presented their defense theory, which holds that classified documents he was charged with illegally retaining were not actually "national defense information" or "closely held" by the time he left office, as defined in the Espionage Act, and they asked Cannon to limit the redactions or substitutions to those documents sought by prosecutors.

"For instance: the Bedminster [document], understood to be a military map of Afghanistan, would have been out of date by the time he was waving it around in summer 2021," Lowell reported. "Trump legal wants a [document] like that unredacted so they can argue it was all old [intelligence]."

Trump's team insisted they need as many of the classified documents as possible to be left unredacted so they can make that argument at trial, sources said.



https://www.rawstory.com/aileen-cannon- ... 667263203/

[Rolodex]

Trump probably leaked it. But the argument about "old Intelligence" seems dumb to me. I mean, they have kept secrets for decades about TS stuff. And some stuff never gets out. Seems like a specious argument to me, but IANAL and IANAnIntelligence Expert.

[raison de arizona]

Trump probably leaked it. But the argument about "old Intelligence" seems dumb to me. I mean, they have kept secrets for decades about TS stuff. And some stuff never gets out. Seems like a specious argument to me, but IANAL and IANAnIntelligence Expert.

Plenty of "old intelligence" would still be valuable to our enemies! Especially when it exposes sources and methods.

[Volkonski]

Judge Cannon denies Trump's delay demand in classified document case

https://www.rawstory.com/cannon-trump-delay/

The Florida federal judge refused to postpone pretrial deadlines as she, Trump, and special counsel Jack Smith debate about how trial materials should be shared with the public.

Cannon hedged her ruling by saying she'll consider filings received past the deadlines she set if Trump's attorneys can prove they are necessary, notes Politico reporter Kyle Cheney, among the first to spot the filing.

Under the ruling, a Feb. 22 deadline stands.

[Dave from down under]

On Feb 22 She will give Donnie another 3 months to file.

[Suranis]

Maybe Donnie attempting his charming moves on her while smelling like a pile of used Diapers made her gag.

[Suranis]

To be clear, when I read that the Lawyers and Turnip would be meeting Cannon tomorrow, I just know Turnip would be turning on the Narcissistic charm in the meeting. And I shuddered.

[noblepa]

FWIW - don't know how details of a closed door meeting are known

Trump lawyers reveal defense strategy to Judge Cannon in private hearing

Travis Gettys
February 12, 2024 11:35AM ET

Donald Trump's lawyers revealed their defense strategy to U.S. District judge Aileen Cannon in a private meeting.

Is it proper for a judge to have a meeting with lawyers for only one side of a case before her court? This seems especially true if the conversation was about the defense strategy.

If one wasn't completely certain about the judicial integrity of Judge Cannon, it might appear that the meeting was to give her her marching orders. But, of course, Judge Cannon is above all that and doesn't feel that she owes TFG anything for appointing her.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

FWIW - don't know how details of a closed door meeting are known

Trump lawyers reveal defense strategy to Judge Cannon in private hearing

Travis Gettys
February 12, 2024 11:35AM ET

Donald Trump's lawyers revealed their defense strategy to U.S. District judge Aileen Cannon in a private meeting.

Is it proper for a judge to have a meeting with lawyers for only one side of a case before her court? This seems especially true if the conversation was about the defense strategy.

If one wasn't completely certain about the judicial integrity of Judge Cannon, it might appear that the meeting was to give her her marching orders. But, of course, Judge Cannon is above all that and doesn't feel that she owes TFG anything for appointing her.

Both parties met ex parte regarding the issue. It is unusual, but due to the nature of the case (classified data) it is expected that it will happen at some point.

[RTH10260]

Is it proper for a judge to have a meeting with lawyers for only one side of a case before her court? This seems especially true if the conversation was about the defense strategy.

Under The Classified Information Procedures Act, the government presents the secret stuff ex parte to the Judge, who ought to take the gist of the hushhush content, then have a ex parte hearing with the other party and present the hushhush digest and hear their reply to it, without the government present to intervene.