Former federal prosecutor and legal analyst Glenn Kirschner alleged on Friday that Judge Aileen Cannon is “orchestrating something even more beneficial” for Donald Trump in his criminal classified documents trial.
Among the four criminal cases that Trump, the presumed 2024 GOP presidential nominee, is charged in, one of the most damning, according to legal experts, has been the classified documents case, which charges Trump with unlawfully retaining such documents after leaving the White House in 2021, some containing sensitive national defense information, in violation of the Espionage Act. Trump himself has pleaded not guilty to the charges and accused the investigation of being politically motivated.
Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in the final months of his presidency, was selected to oversee the case and has been criticized in many corners for decisions that have been deemed overtly beneficial to the former president. She has also specifically been accused of helping Trump by delaying the case’s proceedings by holding off on announcing an official trial date as matters are worked through.
On Thursday, however, Cannon ruled against a motion from Trump’s legal team requesting that his Espionage Act charges be dismissed, arguing that he was allowed to retain the documents under the Presidential Records Act (PRA), a notion the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith’s team dismissed as “pure fiction.” In denying the motion, Cannon did leave open the possibility that the argument could be raised at a later date in the case.
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In a Friday post to his official YouTube channel, Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney and frequent critic of the former president, argued that this decision from Cannon is laying the groundwork for something that will be “even better” for Trump.
“She’s orchestrating something even better for Donald Trump,” he said. “If she had granted this motion and dismissed those charges, guess what? Special counsel Jack Smith would have been able to appeal. But what she said is, ‘I’m not going to dismiss them…now, but I might dismiss them later, when we’re in trial, after a jury has been sworn, after jeopardy has attached.’ Why? Because then, Jack Smith can’t appeal the dismissal and Donald Trump will never be held accountable for those crimes.”
Similar accusations of this tactic were leveled against Cannon last month when she denied a motion from Trump’s legal team looking to have 32 of his 40 charges dismissed on presidential immunity grounds. She did so without prejudice, meaning that Trump’s team can raise the issue later on down the line if they choose to.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida via email on Saturday morning for comment.
Neal Katyal, a lawyer and former acting U.S. solicitor general during the Obama administration, previously suggested that while Cannon could end up rejecting the motions-to-dismiss arguments, the fact she held a day-long hearing to discuss their merit in the first place is ultimately helping Trump in his hopes to delay the federal trial.
Speaking to MSNBC on March 14, the day of the hearing, Katyal said Cannon’s decision in favor of Smith’s office was only a partial victory, similar to what may occur with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on whether Trump can cite presidential immunity to dismiss his federal election obstruction case. The former president has maintained his innocence in that case as well.
“There is no chance that Trump is going to win and that the court is going to say he has absolute immunity. But what the Supreme Court did there is delay his trial for January 6 charges potentially to after the election,” Katyal said. “And the same thing I fear is happening with Judge Cannon, she keeps kicking the can down the road. The fact that she had a daylong hearing today on these two bogus issues tells you everything you need to know. The only thing that Donald Trump’s arguments warrant are an eye roll and a swift denial.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.