11-06-24, 06:09
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TRUMPs' CROOKED Judge Cannon Expunges Indictment Paragraph in His Favour
CLOWN Judge Cannon in Classified Documents Trial Expunges Indictment Paragraph
TRUMP will not be charged for waving around classified papers, judge says
The Guardian 11 JUN 2024
The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents agreed on Monday to expunge from the indictment a paragraph about an episode where the former president waved around a classified document at his Bedminster club in New Jersey.
The US district judge Aileen Cannon ruled she would strike the paragraph because Trump was not charged with a crime for the conduct it described and would be unfairly prejudicial if a jury later saw it at trial.
Cannon’s ruling is notable because it could indicate how she will rule on future motions by Trump to suppress evidence as he attempts to limit the scope of the evidence prosecutors can introduce against him – and thereby dramatically undercut the case.
The move to strike the paragraph was unusual, legal experts said.
Cannon ruled that the passage should be expunged relying in part on a federal rule that says evidence of “other crimes” cannot be used against a defendant to suggest bad character, without addressing the second part of that rule that allows it in the case that it shows proof of motive.
The prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, had argued that they included the passage precisely because it was allowed under the second part of the rule but Cannon took issue with the fact that Trump had not been charged for the conduct it described.
The passage in question – paragraph 36 – uses vague terms but describes Trump in 2021 waving around a classified map of Afghanistan while criticizing the US withdrawal to his now 2024 presidential campaign chief Susie Wiles, according to sources familiar with the matter.
“In August or September 2021, when he was no longer president, Tump met in his office at The Bedminster Club with a representative of his political action committee (the ‘PAC Representative’). During the meeting, Trump commented that an ongoing military operation was not going well,” the paragraph said.
“Trump showed the PAC Representative a classified map of Country B and told the PAC Representative that he should not be showing the map to the PAC Representative and to not get too close. The PAC Representative did not have a security clearance or any need-to-know classified information about the military operation.”
Cannon rips up court schedule in Mar-a-Lago case, benefitting Trump
MORE:
DOJ Files 'Bratty' New Motion in Response to Aileen Cannon:
Justice Department prosecutor Jay Bratt is being called a little "bratty" by legal analysts over his recent court filing in the classified documents case, commented legal experts Allison Gill and Andrew McCabe on the "Jack" podcast.
MSNRAW 11 JUN 2024
Bratt clashed with Judge Aileen Cannon last week when he filed a request to adjust the bail conditions of former President Donald Trump's release that were set as a condition of his release after his arrest for allegedly retaining top-secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.
In this particular case, Bratt argued that new restrictions on Trump's release were needed after he spread bogus conspiracy theories about the FBI supposedly being authorized to kill him, despite the fact that authorizations of deadly force are common in nearly all such search warrants.
"We learned that Trump's attorneys misquoted language the FBI uses on operations orders, which they must prepare before executing any search warrant," explained McCabe.
"Trump's attorneys said that the FBI was authorized to use deadly force when necessary," McCabe said. "When the ops order actually says, 'only when necessary' and 'only when the lives of officers or other people are in danger.'"
Trump then used that language to falsely claim that President Joe Biden was attempting to assassinate him.
The DOJ responded by filing this request to adjust the bail conditions. But in doing so, Bratt dodged a local rule demanding that prosecutors to "meet and confer" with Trump's team, which he did not do.
In response, Judge Aileen Cannon denied the motion and reprimanded Bratt for the procedural error.
This week, "Jay Bratt refiled his motion," Gill explained. "But I still think there might be some problems with this. First, he filed the exact same motion to modify bail conditions. The only thing he changed was the date because he said something like 'yesterday,' and it was May 28th, which is no longer 'yesterday.'"
Bratt also didn't add any declarations from FBI agents to the motion.
"And he didn't ask for an expedited briefing. He didn't file for emergency relief again," Gill continued. "And that move, just to refile the same thing again with your little meet and confer, at the end of it with your little meet and confer certificate, seemed like — it seemed bratty."
Both hosts chuckled at the double meaning.
"Well, it's definitely bratty because it's coming from Jay Bratt," McCabe quipped. "And, so, technically..."
Gill said that it wasn't exactly unprofessional but it was a "dig" at the judge, like saying "fine. Here. Uggh."
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