Jack Smith Close to Pressing 'Nuclear Button' on Aileen Cannon ...
Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Jack Smith is close to pushing the "nuclear button" in Donald Trump's classified documents case, a legal expert told Newsweek on Wednesday.
Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, has faced scrutiny over her handling of the case in which federal prosecutors charged the former president with 31 counts for allegedly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence, accusing the DOJ of targeting him for political purposes. Critics have called for Cannon to be removed from the case.
Smith wrote that Cannon's proposed jury instructions "rest on an unstated and fundamentally flawed legal premise" in a new court filing this week.
The filing was in response to Cannon's instructions suggesting that Trump may have had a legal right under the Presidential Records Act (PRA) to declare presidential records as personal property after leaving office.
Dave Aronberg, the state attorney in Florida's Palm Beach County, told Newsweek on Wednesday that Smith's response was the "most aggressive" from him to date.
Aronberg added that Smith has "good reason" for his reaction because of Cannon's "erroneous interpretation of the Presidential Records Act that would be a pipe dream for the former president."
"If her jury instructions are adopted, it would mean the end of this case," he said. "Jack Smith is close to pushing the nuclear button to ask the 11th Circuit to intervene and remove Judge Cannon from the case."
Attorney and legal expert Andrew Weissmann predicted in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit could reverse her instructions and potentially remove her from the case over the issue.
"I think it will remove her from the case- 3 reversals is more than enough for this inexperienced judge, who gets the law wrong and always in Trump's favor," he posted.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that while Cannon has been "consistently wrong on law," it is unlikely this will lead to her removal.
"Being reversed on appeal isn't enough, even if she is reversed multiple times," he wrote. "Smith would have to prove Cannon is partial and reassignment is necessary. Hopefully the embarrassment of multiple reversals is enough for Cannon to stop entertaining everyone of Trump's arguments, no matter how frivolous."
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for comment via email.
A spokesperson for the DOJ declined comment when reached by Newsweek.
In his filing, Smith wrote that if Cannon allows the jury to decide that Trump had a right to hold presidential records as personal items, she should allow prosecutors time to appeal her decision to a higher court.
But Trump's attorneys sided with Cannon's wording, writing: "The jury would be forced to resolve factual issues relating to not only PRA categorizations but also documents' alleged classification status."
Trump has argued that he would have been allowed to possess the classified records under the Presidential Records Act, though some legal experts have cast doubt on that claim.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
