A CNN legal expert proposed that former President Donald Trump may have received a favorable outcome from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon when she denied a motion from his legal team to dismiss his classified documents case on Thursday.
“We’ve made the point that the headline seemed that it was a loss for Trump,” host Erin Burnett said. “But when you look underneath it, actually there was a pretty significant victory.”
Analyst Ryan Goodman said:
“So, his claim is that the classified documents are personal – he could somehow magically make these highly classified documents his own. That’s not what the law says. That’s just ludicrous. So, instead of the judge saying, “Ok, of course that’s ludicrous.” She just said, “I’m not deciding that pretrial. I might let that happen during the trial and maybe that’s what I’ll decide in the midst of the trial. Now, I’ll actually say, ‘Oh, those are your personal documents? I issue a judgment for acquittal. And that’s called Rule 29. She could do it in the middle of the trial and then it’s too late. That is not appealable. So, she’s actually given him kind of a loss here – but not really. I think this is not what Jack Smith wanted to hear. If she had ruled now that these could be his personal documents, then Jack Smith can appeal that and have the 11th Circuit reverse her.”
In the meantime, a different legal expert from CNN concurred that Smith should have significant concerns regarding this specific case. Elie Honig, an analyst, made these comments following Cannon’s criticism of Smith in a detailed three-page order on Thursday. Cannon’s critique stemmed from the left’s growing criticism of her approach to the classified documents case.
The Washington Post reports:
“Even as she ruled against Trump’s motion, Cannon’s three-page order also revealed her displeasure over Smith’s characterization of her order, suggesting this may not be the last such battle in the historic prosecution of a former president and the presumptive GOP presidential candidate.”
“Where does this leave the timeline of this case, Elie?” asked CNN host Brianna Keilar.
“Well, a mess, in short,” he responded. “No way that this case was gonna get tried before the election. And now, I think we have other pending issues.”
Honig suggested that there is a possibility for Smith to appeal to the 11th Circuit in order to request Cannon’s removal from the case. The 11th Circuit has overturned two rulings in favor of Trump that were made by Cannon in the past. Nevertheless, Honig thinks that the ruling from yesterday has effectively prevented that option.
“I actually think what the judge did today forecloses that, makes it impossible to do that because the judge said, ‘Well, we’re gonna decide when the trial happens, and maybe it’s something that will go to the jury,’” Honig continued.
“You really can’t appeal that if you’re Jack Smith. And by the way, Brie, this is why I think Jack Smith is concerned with today’s ruling. Although he won in the sense that the court did not dismiss the charges, if I’m Jack Smith – and I think Smith feels the same way – I’m very worried about this defense going to a jury because it’s confusing, because it’s complicated, because it’s technical. And prosecutors always want to tell a simple, straightforward story. And frankly, defendants want to muck things up,” he added.
“And as much as I think this defense lacks merit, I do think it could confuse a jury in a way that would worry me as a prosecutor,” he said.
Trump is currently confronted with 32 charges of violating the Espionage Act. As per Smith’s statement, these charges are connected to his purported possession of classified government documents and his deliberate efforts to impede their recovery. The material in question was uncovered by the FBI during a search warrant executed at Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago.
