JUST IN: Judge Cannon Approves Hearing On Legality Of Jack Smith’s Appointment

Judge Aileen Cannon has acceded to former President Donald Trump’s request to examine the legality of appointing Jack Smith as special counsel in the classified documents case. In a recent ruling, Judge Cannon agreed to expand the hearing to include parties not originally involved in the case.

Scheduled for later this month, the hearing will assess Trump’s argument that Smith’s appointment was unlawful. The judge has permitted several third parties to participate in the oral arguments. Among them are attorneys Josh Blackman, representing the Landmark Legal Foundation, and Gene Schaerr. They support Trump’s motion to dismiss the case based on these grounds.

However, not everyone agrees with Trump’s position. Matthew Seligman, representing a group of former government officials, has labeled the motion as “meritless.” This comes amid ongoing debates about the appointment’s legality, even touching upon discussions not yet argued in the Supreme Court.

Two lawyers who are set to argue before Judge Cannon support Trump’s motion. That’s Josh Blackman for Landmark Legal Foundation and Gene Schaerr for Citizens United/Edwin Meese.

Matthew Seligman, for a group of former government officials, calls Trump’s motion “meritless.” https://t.co/gnEtUyCDeT

— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) June 5, 2024

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Things have not gone as planned for Jack Smith. Last Tuesday, the special counsel was put on blast after Cannon went as far as to warn that he could be sanctioned by the court if he doesn’t change course. The Florida U.S. District Judge denied Smith’s motion to implement a gag order preventing Trump from criticizing him and elements of the case.

Smith did not give Trump’s attorneys appropriate time to consider the motion, Cannon wrote. “Sufficient time needs to be afforded to permit reasonable evaluation of the requested relief by opposing counsel… Because the filing of the Special Counsel’s Motion did not adhere to these basic requirements, it is due to be denied without prejudice.”

Going further, Judge Cannon warned Smith that he runs the risk of sanctions if he does not stop burying evidence requiring counsel in footnotes rather than including them as addendums to his filings. Moreover, he will be required to report unbiased statements on each filing of less than 200 words by Trump’s defense team.

In May, Judge Cannon told a member of Smith’s prosecutorial team to “calm down” after the lawyer lost his cool while opposing a motion by a Trump codefendant. A plethora of redacted documents have also been ordered unsealed, cutting into Smith’s ability to hide evidence from Trump’s attorneys. Among the disclosures was evidence that prosecutors threatened an attorney for a Trump codefendant and conspired with NARA officials to keep Trump’s representatives out of the loop in the weeks leading up to the FBI’s August 8th, 2022 raid of Mar-a-Lago.

Smith was appointed to investigate Trump regarding his actions surrounding the 2020 presidential election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.

The pretrial rulings by Judge Cannon come a few weeks after she indefinitely suspended Trump’s classified documents trial, citing the delays resulting from his ongoing hush money trial in Manhattan. Smith may never see his trial reach a verdict before Election Day, as Trump was already enjoying lengthy delays due to the Supreme Court’s hearing on his claims of presidential immunity.

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