Eileen Cannon denies motion to remove Trump, but danger lurks

United States District Judge Eileen Cannon Rejected Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss a classified documents lawsuit under the Presidential Records Act. That was the only logical conclusion she could reach. But while her order rejected President Trump’s motion, it was ostensibly a victory for the special counsel. jack smith At this pre-trial stage, there is still plenty of room for further mischief.

Even Canon denies it. Smith’s request for award pursuant to jury instructions. And the reason Mr. Smith wanted her to do that is because she had previously presented in her instructions the concept of using fringe legal opinion under the Presidential Records Act. So her judgment against Trump based on her actions is – a certain civil law not relevant To criminal charges — did it It’s a signal not to inject it into wacky jury instructions. But she left that possibility for another day.

in Submission to court Ahead of Cannon’s sentencing, Smith said she wanted clarity on her position on the instructions so that she could appeal before trial if she persisted with her fringe views, calling it a flawed legal premise. It was pointed out that it is based on

But inside her Thursday ordercanon cast Mr. Smith’s It deemed the request to be outlandish, “unprecedented and unreasonable.” If he succeeded from nothing, that might be a fair characterization.But he made it in response her strange previous ordersIn it, she called for proposed jury instructions rooted in what she called an “unprecedented and unwarranted” legal opinion. So without context as to how we got to this point, the judge’s characterization is misleading.

Cannon concluded his order by saying, “As always, any party is free to utilize any appellate options it deems fit to exercise, as permitted by law.” . but, It is unclear what Mr. Smith will do about the matter at this time, although he has handed down the verdict based on jury instructions. He may emerge victorious (as he does) and decide to live to fight another day.

This whole episode definitely foreshadows the battles to come. This is just one of many issues that have been and will continue to be raised in this case, and Cannon has yet to even set a firm trial date for when jury instructions will be used. .

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jordan rubin

Jordan Rubin is a writer for Deadline: Legal Blog. He is a prosecutor in the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the author of “Bizarro,” a book about the secret war over synthetic drugs. Before he joined MSNBC, he served as a legal reporter at Bloomberg Law.