While pundits, politicians and the press have long expressed outrage over attacks on judges by former President Donald Trump, many are now attacking any judge who delays any trial of Trump before the election. Democrats have accused Judge Aileen Cannon of being politically compromised, if not conspiratorial, in her delay of the Florida trial over the mishandling of classified documents. Yet, there is ample reason for the delay that many of us anticipated in this type of case when it was filed.
For months, many of us have said that we doubt that this type of trial could be held on the rapid schedule demanded by Special Counsel Jake Smith. Smith has repeatedly sought to curtail trial review and even appellate rights of Trump to advance his schedule.
His office has made convicting Trump before the election the overriding objective of its motion — a sharp departure from past Justice Department efforts to avoid trials to influence elections.
As a criminal defense counsel, I have handled classified material cases and they are notoriously slow. Smith could have prosecuted this case in the shorter time frame if he simply charged obstruction. That would have also eliminated the glaring contrast with the handling of the Biden investigation into the current president’s retention and mishandling of classified material.
Smith decided to charge an array of document charges related to classified material. The defense must have access, review, and can appeal issues related to the classified procedures. Yet, Smith wanted both the array of document charges and a fast track to trial. The Supreme Court has agreed with Cannon that Smith’s desire to secure a conviction before the election is not the overriding consideration.
Judge Cannon is faced with recent admissions that the government mixed up files in the boxes and staged the famous photos of documents strewn over a floor with classified jackets. Most importantly, disputes over the relevant documents continues as expected in the case.
Nevertheless, leading democrats are denouncing Cannon as a partisan hack.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on federal courts and oversight, accused Cannon of “deliberately slow-walking the case.” Ignoring the fact that similar cases have taken much longer to go to trial, Whitehouse simply declared “it is hard for me not to reach the conclusion that this [judge] is deliberately slow-walking the case to put it into a position where should [Trump] be elected, he can order that the investigation and prosecution be terminated.”
His colleague Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) insisted that Cannon was “managing this case in a way that is making it highly unlikely that it will be resolved in a timely fashion.”
Coons added “Justice deferred is often justice denied.” It is a bizarre statement. Classified documents cases routinely take longer to go to trial. The alternative is to cut off the ability of the defense to fully review the documents and review objections for resolution before trial. Yet, because the defendant is Trump and these Democrats want the trial to influence the election, such defense protections are now evidence of judicial bias.
They, of course, ignore that Cannon has ruled repeatedly against major Trump motions in the case.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Cannon’s “at it again, doing everything she can to delay.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), offered the most telling line. He said “I question whether this judge understands the magnitude or the legal import of this trial.”
Indeed, it is the timing as much as the charges that makes this so important to the Justice Department and the Democrats. Smith has crafted this case to impact the election and the failure of the court to support that effort is apparently grounds for recusal.
Blumenthal called for such a motion before the window is lost before the election: “It’s a classic dilemma for justice that a particular judicial officer may be conducting a trial that could be better done by somebody else.”
Despite the statement of his colleague Coons, this is a case where justice delayed is justice.
” …leading democrats are denouncing Cannon as a partisan hack.” Senator Whitehouse is prima facie example of a “partisan hack”. as the old saying goes “it takes one to know one” keep it up Sheldon
That we are currently witnessing a ‘trial’ with no clearly defined crime is all we need to know. Thankfully, in our modern, interconnected world, the Nazis (*cough*modern left*cough*)can’t get away with it again. They vastly underestimate us.
Why don’t they just drag Trump through the streets of Somalia? Isn’t that what they want? Here’s some FREE legal advice – put a D after your name and you can save on legal fees! And MSNBC scrutiny! I’m guessing you could even store important STUFF right next to your Corvette or Trans Am
Why anonymous, ain’t got it in you to say your name. It’s easy to see, media and YOU. Want trump to walk freely. The day will come when Trump pays his due. Republican party are traitorous .
I can’t see this case hurting Trump. Particularly among independents – given the backdrop of Hillary Clinton’s server. If this had been rapped up last year like it should have been, it’s a win-win for Trump. He’s either not guilty or guilty with…….jail time. Really? Trump had hard copy in a secure location. Clinton had her classified documents floating around in cyberspace for anyone to see. The totality of what she did was easily worse even if you add obstruction for Trump. For him to actually get sentenced to some kind of jail time with no consequences for her. I just don’t see the independents putting up with that.
But the judicial system failed to dispense with this matter in a timely manner. And now that they have schlogged along into May, I have to reluctantly agree that you can’t have a trial from this point to the election. But it’s another black mark for a dysfunctional judicial system as far as I am concerned.
@Anonymous
I can’t see it hurting him, either. These people and their minions (ahem – the trolls here) are wasting their time. nobody sane wants any part of this, ad more of us wake up every day.
Judge Cannon has turned out to be the best lawyer Trump ever had.
You seem to have an incorrect and warped view of the roles of lawyers and judges, leftist.
Look in the mirror.
No – I understand jurisprudential roles and processes.
You do not.
Is that you, Larry Tribe?
Actually that would be Willis and Wade, or maybe Bragg and Colangelo, or no Jack Smith.
These are all proving to be Trump’s best lawyers.
Above Turley says that Smith admits that the infamous DOJ classified docs photo provided to the press and the courts was staged.
Turley is being far to KIND. What occured was a fraud on the people and a fraud on the courts by the DOJ/FBI.
That is a crime far more serious than anything Trump has been accused of.
What occured was the presentation of FALSIFIED evidence to the courts an to the people.
While that photo is the single egregious glaring example – that is not the limit of the recent admissions.
Smith has admitted that the records presented to the court of what documents were recovered, where they were found, what documents were in which boxes are all WRONG. Maybe that is an innocent mistake – it is a serious one nonetheless. And frankly it casts doubt on everything else. Getting that right is not difficult. Getting it wrong casts doubt on the entire chain of custody. How did this error occur, and how can we trust the records the government now presents ?
And WHY did this occur ? Incompetence is a really bad claim – that undermines the entire prosecution. But this does not look like an error that would occur from mere incompetence. People incompetently make small portions of the error that was made here.
In a case where a former president is being charged with mishandling classified documents – Smith has Admitted in court that the DOJ/FBI mishandled classified documents AND they mishandled evidence.
The oft quoted classified documents statute does NOT have an incompetence defense.
It does not even have a no harm no foul defence. The SC is litterally admitting the guilt of his own offices of the crime he is prosecuting.
John;
Isn’t their a case for Tumps team to challenge all the Document Evidence from being used at trial.
There is serious chain of evidence corruption.
I don’t see this case making it into a court room before the election. But if it did Trumps lawyers have learned from Merchan that every single piece of evidence would be challenged. I know Cannon has a much better record up to date.
I would add that the totality of the corrupted Deep State apparatus attack on candidate Trump, President-Elect Trump and President Trump represent an attack on America. The actors are the CIA, DOJ, FBI along with others. See my Rumble show, The Trump Assassination Files!
Student: Professor. I know final exams are next week. Could I take mine 2 years from now?
Turley: Why of course. And let me know if you need any more extensions on top of that.
Student: Oh thank you Professor.
Turley: Well you don’t need to thank me miss. After all, this is how the judicial system works in the real world anyway. So you are simply
getting here what you can expect to get there.
SteveJ, false equivalence much?
Well you’re right. It’s even more obscene than my example. Spent a year at a D.C. law firm. Paralegal. Civil case. Nontheless. All of my work was on one case — and I came to discover all of it was for pre-trial motions and other drawn out gimmicks. Endless extensions granted by the Judge. It dawned on me that I was participating in a charade.
There wasn’t going to be a trial. The two sides were simply waiting to see who was willing to spend more money on more lawyers doing pre-trial work over an indefinite time period. The client I was working for had more money. The other side blinked and settled. But in the meantime, you had to maintain the charade of a legal process that never had any deadlines. Judge had no problems with it.
What you described happens sometimes in civil cases – but not all. It should not ever.
But Criminal cases are significantly different.
Unserious cases – such as those against Trump are dropped.
In serious cases – the Government ALWAYS has more money. They can and do ALWAYS bury the defendant.
In the majority of serious cases the defendant waits in jail – creating an incentive for them to rush.
In fact I know of many loser criminal cases where the prosecutors jailed the defendant and delayed the trial such that even after they lost (or more likely got a plea deal) the defendant spent as long in prison as he would have with a conviction.
In those cases that do not jail the defendant – they are out on Bond and for most of them – that is expensive.
No one loans a shoplifter 100K for nothing. The longer the case takes the more it costs the defendant to remain free.
And if none of the above are enough – defendants that are not billionaires can just be bankrupted by the prosecution.
Much is made of the mess that was the Flynn prosecution and plea deal. But Flynn initially fought this tooth and nail.
Nearly bankrupting him, and then they went after his family.
But you can have far more money than Flynn and still be unable to afford to fight the government.
SteveJ – the FACT is that criminal cases typically take a long time – because the Government is in No Rush.
Time is nearly always their friend. It nearly always increases the pressure on the defendant.
The Trump cases are unusual – not because Cannon is doing anything improper, But because The defense WANTS to delay and can afford to delay for years. And the prosecution wants to Rush and Can not afford to delay.
Regardless in a criminal case the rights of the defendant Trump the wishes of the prosector – or they are supposed to.
Of course but for the political law fare – there would be no cases. By delaying the defense is getting justice – though at significant financial cost – that most of us could not afford.
But if you really think Cannon is behaving unusually. I would note there are STILL J6 defendants that are in jail and have not been tried.
Charges were filed and they were jailed 3 years ago. The charges in the Bragg case were filed just over a year ago.
A defendant in jail is supposed to get a peedier trial that one out of jail. The J6 cases are nearly all far simpler than ANY of the Trump cases – yet it has taken DOJ in DC as long as 3+ years to bring some to trial.
“SteveJ – the FACT is that criminal cases typically take a long time – because the Government is in No Rush.”
Oh I am very much aware of this John. And I have to tell you, there are some unfortunate parallels between the case I described, which happen all the time, and criminal cases
As with the civil case I described, there isn’t going to be a trial. The “client” in criminal cases with the most money is the government who will bleed the other side of resources. The other side blinks, and enters into a plea bargain agreement — regardless of guilt.
It’s a money mill.
Not even close to how the courts “work”
Do better.
That may be the dumbest analogy I’ve ever read…
The men cited by Professor Turley lead the parade of Democrats seeking to politicize every area of the law and the courts. A trial of a former president (of which there will now be many) should go overboard in allowing the defense both time and deference.
Well you can’t expect a government operation, whether executive, legislative, or judicial, to be done within a reasonable time frame. Particularly a government operation that involves lawyers. So you are quite right Professor. This was to be expected.