Jack Smith's Nuclear Option Will Directly Target Judge in Trump Trial

By Connor Cavanaugh April 6, 2024 at 4:23pm

Special counsel Jack Smith appears to be losing his patience in his case against former President Donald Trump over classified documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Smith is reportedly considering “pushing the nuclear button” in taking U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon off of the case which she currently presides over, per NBC News.

A court filing from this week had the special counsel legal team questioning Cannon’s willingness to consider a push from Trump’s legal counsel to dismiss the case.

The former president’s legal team argued that the DOJ has no right to turn the issue of presidential records into a criminal case.

Cannon ultimately dismissed that on Thursday, refusing to issue a separate court order on the issue.

In the three-page ruling, she left arguments for Trump to continue questioning the validity of the case open but ultimately denied it for the moment.

The decision comes as both good and bad for both sides of the case.

Of course, for Smith, the judge denying the possibility of the case being dismissed is undeniably a positive as the legal prosecution of Trump will continue.

Unfortunately, it also undermines the court filing that was done in an attempt to get Cannon removed from the case, ultimately making it nearly impossible for the special counsels’ legal team to remove the judge.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s blistering response this week to a request by Judge Aileen Cannon was one of several instances over the last 10 months challenging her competency or impartiality in a case involving Trump’s handling of classified secrets.https://t.co/DlHGHIlsqW

— Axios (@axios) April 5, 2024

For Trump, getting his argument to dismiss the case denied is undoubtedly a negative as a dismissal would be fantastic for him but keeping Cannon — a judge described as “MAGA-friendly” by The Daily Beast — on the case will likely help him in the future.

Additionally, the ability for his team to continue debating whether The Presidential Records Act — a law that forces presidents to turn over presidential records but keep personal documents — has any effect on the case keeps home alive for potential dismissal.

While Smith vehemently denies the act playing any part in the ongoing case, Cannon keeping it open undoubtedly irks the special counsel.

The desperation of Smith to take any measure to ensure Trump sees punishment shows the reality of the case.

He is not interested in any legal arguments surrounding the classified documents case. He just wants to see Trump get in trouble.

Should Judge Cannon remain in place over this trial?

It’s equally obvious as whenever President Joe Biden sees an extremely similar investigation done by Special Counsel Robert Hur who concludes he also kept classified documents after leaving office, no charges are leveled against him.

Of course, Hur and Smith are separate people whose decisions were not intertwined but it shows the double standard that’s pushed.

The Democrats continue to show they’ll do anything to prosecute the former president regardless of how wrong or right it is.

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