Judge Aileen Cannon called out Special Counsel Jack Smith for his dirty tricks in Trump’s classified documents case in a rare Sunday filing.
Jack Smith has repeatedly warned of a ‘significant, immediate’ threat to the government witnesses if their names were unredacted.
The Special Counsel has been fighting to keep the names of government witnesses a secret. He also opposed the unsealing of discovery material because one document confirms the existence of another FBI investigation.
In a five-page order, Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, said that she is “disappointed” that Jack Smith has demanded redactions for “witness safety” when it benefits him, but ignored those concerns at other times.
“[The] Court deems it necessary to express concern over Special Counsel’s treatment of certain sealed materials in this case. In two separate filings related to sealing, the Special Counsel stated, without qualification, that he had no objection to full unsealing of previously sealed docket entries related to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct,” Cannon wrote.
Judge Cannon said that “nowhere in that explanation is there any basis to conclude that the Special Counsel could not have defended the integrity of his Office while simultaneously preserving the witness-safety and concerns he has repeatedly told the Court, and maintains to this day, are of serious consequence, and which the Court has endeavored with diligence to accommodate in its multiple Orders on sealing/redaction. The Court is disappointed in these developments.”
Cannon “granted in part and denied in part” Jack Smith’s motions requesting redactions in Trump’s defense filings.
“Finally, to the extent the Special Counsel asserts a need for continued secrecy over the subject material under Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Court accepts that rationale despite concerns about the Special Counsel’s use of Rule 6(e) as a basis for continued secrecy and authorizes the requested sealing/redactions subject to potential further review,” the Judge wrote.
NEW: In a Sunday order related to the posting of unsealed/unredacted Trump motions in classified docs case, Judge Cannon again takes aim at Special Counsel Jack Smith for his selective demands to keep witness, grand jury materials secret. pic.twitter.com/0R8sJ586Na
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 19, 2024
Earlier this month Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed Jack Smith’s classified documents trial against Trump.
The Judge vacated the May 20, 2024 trial date after Jack Smith admitted the FBI messed with the boxes containing “classified” documents they seized from Trump.
The DOJ previously assured the Court that the placement of classified documents as originally found had been maintained – THEY LIED!
It may be several months until Judge Cannon sets a new trial date.
