Labor Day. That last long weekend to cap off the summer. It’s supposed to be a day of honoring American workers and some do that. Most who get the day off (so many don’t) simply treat it as just another three day weekend. I mentioned there are a lot of people who don’t get the day off, or choose to work on it even if it’s a federal holiday. I’m of the mind federal District Court Judge Aileen “Loose” Cannon was hard at work today. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I think in her eagerness to help (or rather continue helping) Trump she, because she’s in so far over her head screwed up and has done enormous legal damage to him.
Let me backtrack. Merrick Garland wanted no part of DOJ prosecuting Trump. I could write multiple articles about why and how he dragged his feet, at least when it came to going after Trump and his closest associates who put together the attempted coup and riot. Let’s just for the moment leave it at Garland would rather have had every tooth root canaled without anesthetic than prosecute Trump or his closest advisors. Then we have Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg who talked tough during his campaign but ran away like Chicken Little screaming not about the sky falling but instead about Trump saying mean things about him on social media Outgoing DA Cyrus Vance Jr. handed him a ready to go case with tough, seasoned prosecutors ready to go to court and Bragg tanked it. Only when he realized his career with sitting their like a turd in Trump’s fake gold toilet and New Yorkers had every intention of hitting the flush handle did he build a new case and get an indictment. However it’s clear he’s in no hurry to go to trial, even letting it be known he’s fine “deferring” his case so others can go first.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis is made of much stronger stuff. There was publicly available evidence Trump likely broke Georgia laws, but also that he had plenty of other involved in a broader, multi-faceted scheme to overturn Georgia’s election results. It seemed like it was taking for-freaking-ever but it turns out there was a reason Willis was so deliberate in her approach. I’ll get to that. And finally we have Special Counsel Jack Smith who is also made of sterner stuff than Bragg, and Garland too. The last thing Garland wanted to do was appoint a Special Counsel but things got to the point where he had no choice. And he STILL dragged his feet! Smith should have been brought in at least two months before Garland relented. But he got to work. Now we have four criminal cases, two federal and one each in NY and GA on the docket. I wrote an article about the “batting order” not long ago you might want to read.
That brings me to federal District Court judge Aileen “Loose” Cannon down in Florida. Smith actually had a fairly broad case when it came to documents and items Trump stole from the WH and took to FL, Bedminster, perhaps Trump Tower and who knows where else? Yet Smith understood the need to get Trump into court and facing a jury so given the National Security implications he kept that case to a small portion of the hundreds of classified documents Trump stole and refused to return. Even more specifically Smith limited his case only to some of the items found during that search of Mar A Lago in August 2022. AFTER Team Trump certified in a filing everything had been returned. Only thirty one documents and charges were part of the 38 count indictment, and only a couple of co-defendants were indicted with Trump. There was no reason, none at all that case couldn’t have gone to trial before the end of this year.
Cannon of course had other ideas. Again I refer you back to Bragg and Garland and how apparently DOJ had gone after lots of lower hanging fruit but not so much Trump and his inner circle. That DC case is a sprawling one and even if as was speculated Smith were to file charges it was a big enough case with enough parts that getting it to trial before the election was unlikely. Again I refer you to the earlier article of mine I linked to when I say Cannon thought things over and made her choice. She didn’t want to get slapped down again by the appellate court but had enough discretion to push Trump’s FL trial to May, 2024. Is there anyone, anyone at all who doesn’t know in their heart she’d have ruled favorable next spring on Trump delay motions so that the trial would be pushed into the fall when DOJ policy dictates everything would have to “be put on hold?”
Cannon looked at the lay of the land, the other cases and how it seemed unlikely they’d go to trial before the election and made her ruling. As this report from CBS News indicates she laid out a just plausible (to probably pass muster if Smith appealed) explanation noting among other things:
“The Court will be faced with extensive pre-trial motion practice on a diverse number of legal and factual issues, all in connection with a 38-count indictment,” wrote Cannon
However as I’ve said there’s no doubt she’d have gone along with, if not outright helped (from the bench) Trump’s lawyers get delays to that May 2024 trial date. So Cannon figured she’d covered Trump’s butt and would be able with relative ease to keep doing so. However, it’s now apparent she felt the need to do more to help out her idol over at Mar A Lago and that’s where she started crapping the bed.
Smith made some perfectly routine filings and Cannon raised a huge fuss about him continuing with grand juries in DC and FL. Which is not only legal but fairly standard practice. Still, she started demanding an accounting and one she had no basis to be demanding. What is DID seem to do was get attention and in a place where she least wanted it to do so. Smith made another routine filing about people in the FL trial all having the same attorney. (not to mention paid for by Trump) That sets up a potential conflict of interest between an attorney’s multiple clients as they might have competing interests. Prosecutors don’t like getting overturned on appeal any more than judges do so it’s common for prosecutors to file a motion in such cases for the court to ensure multiple clients using the same attorney understand their right to have their own counsel so as to avoid conflicts of interest. Sometimes clients are cool with such an arrangement and sometimes not.
However judge Cannon again hit the roof and started making statements and issuing orders for “explanations” from Smith. Which again brought attention. News coverage. We don’t know who said what, but we DO know that one of the FL witnesses, “employee #4 decided instead of a Trump paid for attorney he’d rather find another lawyer. And that he “revised his testimony” which is legal speak for “sorry I lied before but I realized that I wasn’t getting good legal advice and now that I am I want to tell the truth.” THAT is very bad news for Trump. The kind of thing he can’t keep quiet. Add that in with the fact that with his civil trial in NY state coming up next month Trump is throwing is own freaking son Fredo, I mean Eric under the bus and not just witnesses in the FL case but maybe even at some point Walt Nauta nd Carlos DeOliveira might decide to get a non-paid Trump lawyer too.
My point is that in trying to go the extra mile for Trump “Loose” Cannon appears to have set off what could become a devastating chain of events for Trump’s FL case. She didn’t just crap the bed. She set a hundred angry howler monkey loose in her tiny courtroom to start flinging their poop all over the place!
Now, too late Cannon can see that in Georgia lots of people have non Trump paid for attorneys and some are seeking deals. That number is likely to grow substantially after Wednesday. Up in DC, far away from FL and even far enough from NJ other Trump people he’s kept in the fold by paying for their lawyers are almost certainly reconsidering. And might get themselves a lawyer who’s first and only concern is THEM and not what’s best for Trump. And worst of all, I think it’s a safe bet more people in FL will decide a lawyer paid for by Trump, or his promise to cover the cost isn’t a good idea.
From where I sit this can all trace back to judge Loose Cannon’s obsession with doing all she can to help Trump. I predict she will have wound up doing far more damage to him than any help she’s provided. Worst of all, it seems Jack Smith had a backup plan if Cannon pulled a stunt like that May 2024 trial date. Just as he filed a pared down indictment n FL, he did the same in DC with the Jan. 6 case! I truly believe from the time he chose to (properly) file the National Security case in FL he knew he might get Cannon and started working on a backup plan which is now in motion. With December open (thanks to Cannon) Smith asked for trial then. DC federal judge Tanya Chutkan didn’t go that far, but she had a chat with the judge in Manhattan and set a trial for March of next year.
Chutkan won’t let Team Trump get away with their typical delaying bullshit, and neither will the appellate court. Trump will be tried in DC before his scheduled date in FL. And almost certainly convicted. And judge Cannon will look even worse than she’s already made herself look! But again, bear in mind that as I wrote yesterday the string of people getting their own lawyers and turning on Trump is likely to grow into a giant snowball headed downhill right at Trump.
Well most of us were pretty sure Loose Cannon would land herself and TFG in a swamp. I think at this point, Jack Smith is concentrating on the DC case. He has the right judge and the worse for TFG jury pool. The MAL case is a mess, with the judge requesting briefs on things she doesn’t need and refusing to accept briefs under seal that should be. Jack just keeps letting Loose Cannon dig her own grave and probably sometime after the DC trial, maybe sooner, file that appeal to the 11th Circuit that so deliciously slapped her down last year.
Merrick Garland may not have relished charging a former president, but he fairly quickly hired Thomas Windom (former DOJ and was in private practice) to look into the plotters of J6 while the DC AUSA Matthew Graves handled all the foot soldiers. Windom ran into a brick wall with the FBI DC SAC D’Antuono refusing to honor supoenas and search warrants. He had to get the U.S. Post Office Inspector General to help him until they finally got D’Antuono into retirement.
Great piece, Murph. Cannon — who still doesn’t get that she’s not on Amateur Hour — is in waaay over her head.
With three other trials likely to proceed on schedule and the trials going on concurrently with the 2024 election, I wonder if it even matters if this one gets put off until after the election (and yes, I think former guy has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting re-elected unless President Biden suddenly goes nuts, dies, or in some other way makes it so Vice President Harris has to run for prez–I think she’d be great but I doubt many republicans or indies feel this way).
Let’s face it, it is unlikely cannon was given anything harder than what is usually given to a paralegal or secretary when she got out of law school and before this unearned appointment to a federal bench. She doesn’t have the knowledge, experience, or anything other than some tie to the fed. soc. She does not belong in this position and proves it every effing time she opens her yap. That said, she is probably getting advice, after her first few f*ck-ups, from someone either from the f.s. or another con judge on how to throw some spokes into DOJ’s wheels and not look too much like she’s blowing trump. She’s going to do as much as possible to slow walk this thing so we should just get ourselves used to this fact and live with it. I just don’t think we’ll see this trial until after trump loses, again, in ’24. Garland f*cked up by hesitating when he should have come out all guns a-blazing. The response from cons would have been no different than what we’re seeing now-they cannot get their noses up trump’s ass any further. It’s done and time can’t be turned back. Time to make the best of it. I realize there is a chance this one could slip thru the cracks but only if former guy wins in ’24 and quite frankly after such an event we’re f*cked in the worst possible way imaginable so who gives a rat’s ass.
It matters because what keeps getting downplayed is that the FL case is about NATIONAL SECURITY. I f**king HATE how it keeps getting referred to as a “documents” or even “classified documents” trial. It is WAY the hell more than that. First, if you recall all along Trump was casual about proper handling of highly classified information. You recall the stories of him showing stuff off in the dining room of his club with guests passing by. Sharing high res. pictures with a foreign delegation at his table too – which reportedly including NOFORN (no foreigners allowed access) stuff – for good reason we degrade certain photos so as not to reveal how good the cameras on satellites or high altitude aircraft/drones are, or want other governments to see certain information because they can compare notes with others to determine sources and methods.
It’s also worth reminding everyone that it was established that agents of other, non-friendly countries were in and out of Mar A Lago when Trump was President. And, as we’d come to learn he wasn’t concerned with keeping stuff he once was (and I still can’t wrap my head around this appalling fact) entitled to have access to secure.
How many SCI/SAP “documents” (I put the quotes in because a-holes keep omitting the National Security emphasis that SHOULD be part of every story about this) were compromised? Top Secret SCI or SAP carries a significant designation beyond Top Secret. Sensitive COMPARTMENTED Information (SCI) or Special Access Programs (SAP) are exactly what those terms suggest – tightly controlled (or are supposed to be) to ONLY those who have a need to know. Most people with Top Secret clearance aren’t allowed access – a person has to be specifically cleared to be “read in.” Furthermore, just because a person is read in to one SCI/SAP area it doesn’t give them access to any others. EACH SCI/SAP “document” has a specific list of people who are allowed access to that information.
The cost, both in dollars and even lives to what Trump (and Jared and who knows who else) did by such careless (if not with intentional mercenary purpose) handling of National Security information literally cannot be calculated. THAT my friend is why this trial SHOULD have been the first one, and it SHOULD have taken place as soon as possible. As I said, it could have been a lot broader in scope with a LOT more counts to the indictment but in order to get Trump convicted of a huge breach of National Security Smith pared it down precisely to be able to try and convict Trump quickly.
I hope, I really do that if Smith gets a DC conviction of Trump he goes ahead and files a superseding indictment of Trump that includes a whole bunch more National Security information Trump stole. He can even start next year giving discovery to Trump’s FL legal team as he questions additional witnesses, letting them and Cannon know he’s putting that extra time to good use. And that Trump can count on a lot more legal trouble down there.
Hope that addresses yours and others questions about why this matters as much as it does.
I also keep telling folks that this is a National Security case. What don’t they understand that?!
I’m not disagreeing with you denis but I just think this one is going to be slow-walked. It’s not just that cannon is an incompetent, she’s an incompetent who realizes everyone knows she is. She’s going to do what she can, and I think with help from someone who actually knows what they’re doing, to muck up everything possible. Yes, this is a really important trial and yes, everyone ought to know just what a traitor former guy is. Short of cannon being taken off the case (her previous shit ought to have done it so let’s assume she’ll be removed if she becomes a stinking, rotting corpse while on the bench and for no other reason) there is nothing to be done.
More to your point-this case is not going to sway any more magats and ‘pubes not to vote for trump than the other three. The other three are also going to have just as much effect on indies/trad ‘pubes/con dems as this one would. For real impact on voters, the D.C. trial is going to be the one that nails him I think. The prosecution will, if they’re smart, show the J6 footage so many freaking times the jury will be one of zombies only capable of guilty verdicts.
I understand national security but your average rube does not and your magats and conservative ‘pubes don’t care because all they see is trump being mistreated.
denis…you’re right about national security. NO ONE knows what has landed in the hands of our enemies, either through carelessness or being traded for money. This latest development of Putin and fat boy with a bowl cut could just be a response to their respective ambitions, but it could also mean they have some defense info from traitor tot they did not posses previously. God only knows what vampire boy sold to the Saudis.