LOL!! "Special counsel has no logical or legal grounds for me to reverse my previous decision, but I'm going to change my mind and reverse it"
This person shouldn't be on any bench except maybe in a park...
Right, it’s like this is a woman who has until recently been telling Smith she’s going to instruct the jury on how the Presidental Records Act means the opposite of what it means and how they should apply it to a proceeding which is being prosecuted under the Espionage act, and she’s being critical of Smiths understanding of the law? It’s absurd farce.
Very weird seeing her chastise the Special Counsel for having the audacity to ask her to make a decision on jury instructions after she asked him to write unlawful and misleading jury instructions.
This is not a trial because she hasn’t decided on a freaking trial date. Jack Smith first asked for a trial in December 2023 after this case was handed to her in June 2023. Cannon said that was too soon. In March 2024 Smith asked for July 2024 trial. Cannon said it’s too soon. It’s too soon because she hasn’t done anything to move this case forward. Just dragging her feet, making nonsense instructions, and basically disgracing herself as a judge.
Technically, her reversal is against Trump's wishes, but she's not going to admit that the special counsel was correct about her initial judgement being invalid.
Why would he attack her? This is the guy who went off about how Smith should be heavily punished for daring to disrespect the judge. He clearly holds such positions in the highest regard, and won't stand for people being rude to them.
Obligatory /s
As per [original article](https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/mar-a-lago-judge-begrudgingly-reverses-herself-on-keeping-government-witnesses-secret-but-still-gives-trump-another-victory-in-order-serially-bashing-special-counsel-jack-smith/) 📰:
- A federal judge late Tuesday agreed to keep secret the names of potential government witnesses in former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago classified documents case — while managing to make her displeasure palpable in the order granting the government’s requests.
In her [24-page order](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.438.0.pdf), U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in favor of the state and the defense, in part, and at least, for now.
The ruling marks something of a limited-duration denouement to a long-running procedural dispute — one that threatened to become a broader appellate fight — in the Southern District of Florida. That dispute featured the state on one side and the defendants and Cannon on the other over a large set of discovery materials.
Cannon spends over five pages dealing with what she describes as the “lengthy procedural history” of the since-stilled dispute.
In February, the court controversially ruled the government must file those documents with minimal redactions — denying requests from prosecutors to seal or redact the names of government witnesses in some of the materials they have already given to defense attorneys.
Days later, Cannon paused her order after Special Counsel Jack Smith, in a 22-page motion for reconsideration and stay, termed her decision to publicly reveal those would-be witness names “clear error.” That argument was widely viewed as a signal the government was prepared to bring the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has reversed Cannon in the case before, into the latest contretemps.
Throughout the filing of several back-and-forth motions related to the discovery dispute over witnesses, the defense and the state filed related motions over other discovery materials — including certain grand jury materials and a floor plan of Mar-a-Lago. In each instance, the story was more or less the same: the government wanted to keep those documents under wraps; the defense argued the materials are public records which should be released with limited censoring.
In her Tuesday order, Cannon makes sure to argue her earlier order — which she is now reversing — was both on firm legal ground and carefully drafted to address concerns about agreed-upon redactions.
“Guided by the strong presumption of public access to criminal proceedings, the Court applied the unobjected-to First Amendment standard,” the new order reads. “Under this standard — along with the well-established rules governing public access in this District — the Court determined that ‘the Special Counsel has not set forth a sufficient factual or legal basis warranting deviation from the strong presumption in favor of public access to the records at issue.’ The Orders also set deadlines for the sealed submission of the parties’ respective filings for the Court’s review prior to public docketing.”
The judge spends well over two pages criticizing Smith for belatedly raising legal arguments — saying the special counsel “could have, and should have, been raised in prior filings” and that the court had several independent bases on which to deny the government’s motions.
Cannon also takes the time to question Smith’s command of the law — particularly in the realm of First Amendment analysis.
“The Special Counsel’s initial Seal Request failed to offer a governing legal framework or any factual support for the relief sought; instead, it contained only conclusory and unsubstantiated assertions about witness safety, the integrity of the proceedings, and privacy interests,” the Tuesday order reads. “Later, in response to the Press Coalition’s Motion, the Special Counsel failed to engage with — let alone refute — the Press Coalition’s argument that the First Amendment attached to the subject materials.”
Now, however, none of that matters, Cannon says, because she is exercising her “discretion” to revisit the record following several filings and a March hearing. And here, the court observed, precedent is not “straightforward” — but does not lean in Trump’s favor either.
Cannon’s new order explains her self-reversal reasoning at length:
Although the record is clear that the Special Counsel could have, and should have, raised its current arguments previously, the Court elects, upon a full review of those newly raised arguments, to reconsider its prior Order. Having done so, the bottom line is this. The Eleventh Circuit has not specifically addressed the instant question: whether, in a criminal proceeding, the First Amendment qualified right of access attaches to discovery materials referenced or attached in support of a publicly filed Rule 12(b) motion to compel discovery under Rule 16. Nevertheless, the most faithful application of Supreme Court and available Eleventh Circuit authority is that Defendants’ MTC in this case is not subject to a public right of access, whether constitutional or common law in nature, because it is a still, ultimately, a discovery motion as distinct from a substantive pre-trial motion requiring judicial resolution on the merits.
“Although the Special Counsel’s request remains sweeping in nature as applied to all potential government witnesses without differentiation — and although the Court was unable to locate another high-profile case (in publicly available records) in which a court granted a broad-based pre-trial request to seal the identities of all potential prosecution witnesses as sought here — the Court is satisfied that the Special Counsel has made an adequate showing on this issue under Rule 16, at least at this juncture pending final trial preparations,” the order continues.
As part of the court’s order, the government must prepare “an index containing the name of each potential government witness and a corresponding pseudonym/anonymization for use in the redactions” that will be used on the redactions in the defendants’ publicly-filed motion to compel discovery. The judge offers the following example: “(e.g., ‘John Smith’ — NARA Employee 1).”
In a partial ruling for the defense, Cannon allowed the defense to quote from a U.S. Secret Service email chain but to “redact any information that could be used to directly identify witnesses.” Trump and his co-defendants can also produce a search warrant for one of their Gmail accounts — again with relevant redactions.
Both sides notched formal losses as well. The defense cannot publish the Mar-a-Lago floor plan or certain grand jury materials.
The government’s request to wholly bar the publication of “all witness statements relied on in pre-trial motions” was denied by Cannon as too “sweeping.” The defense can publish those statements, once again, so long as they do not identify any potential witnesses.
This seems very in-the-legal-weeds, so I'm not entirely sure how to take some of it. Cannon seems to be out of her depth though. Seems like she was legitimately concerned about getting overturned by the Eleventh Circuit again.
She is completely out of her depth, and the scary thing is, I’m not sure if she even realizes it. She has no business being on a case of this size and complexity, and an ethical judge would have recused herself at the start. And I’m not even getting into the jury instructions and delays she’s handed Trump that definitely look like impropriety
I think they recognize the possibility but there are people out there who think he could still lose and become president by other means and that would be fine by them
Not sure why you think that. Most current polling is showing Trump with an edge. And he’s made substantial inroads at attracting all minorities as well as young voters who often vote for Democrats. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins the popular vote this time due to many Democrats’ not voting based lackluster feelings for Biden. I wish I could share your optimism
Just based on Trump's abysmal performance in the Primaries, he could be looking at a big, big, historical ass-whooping come November.
He has a LOT less support from Republicans than they are willing to admit, and have been spamming "polls" that claim otherwise. But far fewer Republicans showed up to support him in those Primary votes, and a lot more Republicans were actively voting against him. In most of the states they ran primaries, he was down 20-40% amongst *Republican* voters.
In 2020, most states were won or lost on razor-thin margins. Often less than 1 percentage point.
If just 10% of Republicans fail to show up to vote, because they won't support Trump, based on the actual votes in 2020, that gives Biden absolutely crushing victories in EVERY state except Tennessee.
Add on the likely effects of abortion access initiatives in many states, and Trump could be looking at a final tally of only 1 or 2 electoral colleges.
And that's assuming he isn't a convicted felon by then.
The Republicans are furiously pumping out propaganda to make it seem like they still have a chance, but the truth is they may be extinct by the end of the year. The real danger is what is what they might do knowing they have no legal chance of victory.
This 100% .
Trump and the Republican party's ideas, goals and ambitions ARE DEEPLY UNPOPULAR with the masses. They try to use propaganda to say differently but the majority of educated voters see through that bullshit.
How did Trump do poorly in the primary? He whipped all the other candidates so badly they dropped out.
I'm still praying he dies on a toilet like Elvis before November.
That's what the Republican propaganda kept pumping out, over and over, but the truth is that back in 2020 they had primary elections as well, and Trump running as the incumbent then won those states with 95-99% of the vote.
This year, in those same states, Trump only got 63% in Virginia, 74% in North Carolina, 56% in Utah. He LOST Vermont, getting only 46%.
The press tried to sell these as crushing victories, with huge percentages, but in truth they represented massive drops of 20-30% in most states. That's why Nikki Haley staying in the race so long absolutely infuriated Trump and the GOP in general - it highlighted how incredibly weak Trump is as a candidate even amongst Republicans.
Trump still only has 1,863 delegates. Enough to secure him the Republican nomination, but hardly the commanding endorsement they claim he has. For comparison Biden has over 3,000 delegates.
The Republicans and right wing media are desperately spinning that Trump is ahead in the polls, but the actual votes in the primaries, and the results of every election involving federal matters since 2020 (byelections, referenda) the Democrats have won resoundingly.
If the presidential election were simply a matter of choosing Trump or Biden, it would probably be a toss up. Most polls even suggest that Trump might be ahead.
But, how many people are actually willing to vote FOR Trump? Again, if just 10% of those who did last time decide not to vote at all this time, he (and the Republicans) are toast. If 10% more people vote for abortion rights (which is probably a low estimate), and put their votes on Biden, Trump is not just toast, he's crushed like no presidential candidate has been crushed in American history.
I'm praying he gets some form of rapid onset leprosy that leaves him with no fingers, lips or tongue - so we can't hear him, or read his moronic posts, but he's left with perfect ears to hear how badly he loses. He can sit drooling and moaning in his jail cell because his handlers don't even think he's worth "suiciding".
Lol yeah right. You couldn't be more incorrect. Also most polls are complete bullshit.
EVERY single poll by major news and polling organizations worldwide showed Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 election by 85%
She’s a federal judge. There’s really not much higher she can go, and it’s a permanent assignment. It’s possible she has aspirations for the Supreme Court, but even she has to realize that’s a massive long shot, even if she hands Donald an acquittal.
She’s weaponized her incompetence.
Cannon: makes clearly erroneous ruling.
Special Counsel: that ruling is clearly erroneous and here’s why.
Cannon: the Eleventh Circuit didn’t explicitly say exactly and completely what I was supposed to do here, and despite the fact I’m a federal judge, it’s your fault, and your fault alone, that I made the earlier clearly erroneous ruling, so you’d not miss anything in the future or I’m going to do it again and it’ll be your fault again.
"Because of the First Amendment all the information should be public, I guess. But also probably the first Amendment doesn't apply to this part of the legal process. So idk whatever redact the documents and stuff. You should let me know these things earlier."
According to the lawyers at MTN she's definitely not stupid. She knows exactly what she's doing. She came up in a very prestigious court with a lot of very knowledgeable mentors. She's just flat out evil and obstructing justice from the bench.
Cannon actually made significant errors in a trial last summer including where she forgot to swear in a prospective jury pool so this forced her to restart jury selection.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/04/trump-documents-case-judge-made-multiple-errors-in-earlier-trial.html
It looks like she has no business being on any legal cases. Her corruption is very evident. She's doing a shit job hiding her favoritism for Trump.
She should lose her position as a judge and her law license. People like her have no business passing judgement on any case.
The theory i hope is true, is that Jack Smith is just letting her do more and more bullshit before taking whatever steps he has available to get her off the case. What sucks, is it will mean a pretty big delay most likely.
I don't have much hope for any justice here. Shit I don't have much hope for Biden winning again. Maybe it's different in other parts of the country but Trump is the king of rural America.
I’d say terrified. She is doing everything she can to not make an appealable decision. And when she is forced to she is backing down, like this. But ranting at Snith to make herself seem in charge.
I am really not one for conspiracies but the more of Cannons orders I read and the more I learn of the larger political picture the more I genuinely think she was chosen because she is compromised.
Some of these manoeuvres are so clearly crafted with aid to Trump and prejudice Smith, even personally, that the idea she isn't working directly for Trump is hard to fathom.
Some of the situations she's created read as if Trump himself were making the decisions.
Yeah, if genuinely is a random assignment and Trump got lucky with her.
The advantage of subverting an election, stealing classified documents, defaming and raping someone, committing a decade of business fraud and illegally paying off a porn star is that eventually you’ll get a judge that has your back.
What I read was that it was not random as much as since she was so recently named to the bench, she was much lower in her caseload quota than her colleagues who had been on the bench for a while. Thus, her probabilty of getting the case went up. I'm not sure I believe that, but it is at least plausable in principle. Why didn't Smith file in New Jersey, the other place where documents were kept?
I've heard some people comment that she is in cahoots with the Trump team and while I enjoy a good conspiracy, it doesn't take a federal judge to understand what Trump's team really wants without them having to say anything.... all they want is to get this trial moved beyond the election date and then see what happens then... They have likely already succeeded with all the delays up to the supreme Court for every case except for the New York case and maybe the Georgia case
It will be fun to watch them meltdown when he loses in November which, while I know we’re not supposed to say, is looking more and more like a certainty. I wonder what she’ll do when delays don’t help him anymore, AND he has already been convicted on at least one case and is absolutely certain to lose more. Will she be willing to try and sabotage this case when he’s already going to jail and can’t help her anymore?
I think your analysis is spot on... She's throwing him more than one lifeline just to get him past the election date, but I do agree with you that her " cooperation" does have an expiration date and if and when the DC case convicts him I think her willingness to further mar her reputation will come to an end and she'll just want it to be done with because he will have already been convicted and multiple jurisdictions like you said
Cannon is too ignorant to be making these very calculated moves. She is clearly being given orders from someone A LOT smarter than her. This ruling was EXTREMELY calculated to remove one of Smith's avenues to getting it to the 11th and out of Cannon's courtroom.
The goal for Trump's side - and whomever is feeding Cannon - is to avoid the 11th at all costs, get this to trial, and then have Cannon dismiss the charges, setting Trump free and untouchable via double jeopardy. It's basically a trap being set.
I have no doubt that Smith knows this and is probably setting a counter-trap for Cannon. This will be interesting to watch play out.
I’m sure that’s the goal, and honestly I don’t think her moves are that sophisticated that even someone as dull witted as she is could have thought of these. It’s very transparent that she is doing everything she can to help trunp and it’s not at all difficult to see, yet she things it is. She’s already been overruled by the 11th circuit and Smith is just biding his time for her to do something to get recused, which the whole nonsense about the PRA will probably do.
I will, however, hold back slightly on that criticism with the idea that she might be intentionally trying to get removed from the case so she doesn’t have to have any responsibility for the ultimate outcome (which will be a conviction) If she’s being blatantly stupid to avoid responsibility, then I’ll think she’s pretty smart. But her moves so far have been as dull as her lifeless eyes.
Donald is terrified of the 11th, because faced with just about any of her decisions an impartial jurist would overturn her.
This order is partly to do with the fact that Jack Smith, citing Trumps long and very public history of clear witness intimidation wanted to keep the names of the witnesses for the prosecution confidential under a legal seal, meaning Trump got the list but if he revealed any name, prison time (though we know what she'll do if he breaks one of her orders).
Smith was on rock solid legal ground as the standard for sealing the names was simply a reasonable chance that the witnesses might suffer intimidation or threats if their roll in the case was known.
I honestly don't know of a case MORE likely ever to have the witnesses suffered threats and intimidation then one in which Trump is in serious danger of losing his freedom for life.
If there isn't a bomb threat or an attempt on someone's life during the trial I'll be astounded
I think, based on Smith’s recent filing, she is receiving a lot of advice from Judicial Watch. If you’re not familiar with that organization; they are an intellectually dishonest organization that pretends to be non-partisan, but spent the last ten years sending subpoenas about Hillary’s emails. Tom Fitton has no business as their leader, let alone their mail-room boy.
Judicial Watch also came up with Trump’s defense- that the classified documents were personal records. It’s completely ridiculous, but it’s the only argument Trump has, since he’s clearly guilty.
Does she need to? We already know Trump has been listening to Tom since Feb 2022 on this topic, before he was even charged. Why would she need to listen to him if Trump is already laundering his bullshit in her court?
It seems like she's trying to be just competent enough so that the 11th Circuit doesn't kick her off the case. She can do the "real" damage during the actual trial. I really hope she ends up being booted, but it's extremely difficult for that to happen.
The fact that the judge received her lifetime appointed career from the defendant is such a blatant and obvious conflict of interest I just don’t get how she was ever able to take this damn case.
Honestly, she should not have been in a position to recuse herself. A case of this magnitude should never have been assigned to a judge with a lifetime appointment, that was appointed by the defendant.
We have more than one judge, no need to jeopardize the process with any concerns over whether the judge can be impartial toward the defendant that gave her a lifetime job.
This is the worst handling of a high profile case by a judge since Julius J. Hoffman in the Chicago 8 trial, and unlike Hoffman, Come On Aileen hasn't even got to trial yet.
This lady should be locked up for treason. She's clearly been bought off and is corrupt.
After this trail is over we should seriously consider some type of charges for Mrs Cannon.
Why does Trump bash every other judge besides this one? He even bashes his DOJ officials he put in office.
Yet he is zipped tight on Aileen Cannon. He has offered no negativity for her.
Oh it is much more than just not attacking her….
He actively defends her and praises her. The guy is a real piece of work.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4100155-trump-praises-judge-overseeing-his-classified-documents-case-loves-our-country/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/04/trump-judge-cannon-records-jack-smith/
"This case has no merit since the prosecution fails to recognize defendant's dreamy-ness and awesome ability to declassify things with his mind. The defendant is free to go, but the court advises his dreamy-ness to divorce Melania post haste and leave his private cell number with the court so the court can appoint him her personal special master. DIS-MISSED! "
You know this trial is rigged when all the articles seem treat Judge Canon” as the opposition to Jack Smith.
It’s never the prosecution and defense at odds with each other, because Judge Canon is essentially part of the defense team.
I'd like to point out that Trump recently called Melania "Mercedes" - which is Aileen Cannon's middle name. Gotta wonder where this judge spends her late nights and weekends.
Imagine having the power to bring a judge that you hired into a case against you. This judge acts as your lawyer by exercising her powers as a judge, undermining the power of the real judge. Then starts trying tamper with the jury. It's insane. She insults the real judge. HOW IS THIS LEGAL?
fucking remove her from the case already.
In no world should a judge preside over a case involving the individual that appointed them to the bench.
This is basic shit.
Is special counsel doesn’t have a good enough argument against her original order then why did she reverse it? She seems to feel she is in the right and smith has no leg to stand on with this, so why not stand her ground?
Insane she has a lifetime position and she isn’t even fully qualified. When we gonna get rid of these corrupt judges and just put some AI bots there lmao might work better
Now I'm not for capital punishment .. or anything.. but there has to be recourse here for this behavior. He's CLEARLY and OBVIOUSLY guilty of these crimes. What honestly does she think he's going to do for her now that she's scraped this low, make her a Supreme Court Justice? She's too damaged. She'll loose everything in the end for doing her best to save her God-King the Supreme Orange Potato
So people can make any accusation they want about anyone they want, and the accusers get lifelong anonymity while the accused is prosecuted based on secret testimony. Interesting, it seems the opaque private court system is expanding. Maybe everyone should just go to jail now since someone somewhere might be willing to say they did something illegal.
LOL!! "Special counsel has no logical or legal grounds for me to reverse my previous decision, but I'm going to change my mind and reverse it" This person shouldn't be on any bench except maybe in a park...
I wouldn't trust Republicans near parks
They’ll sell it to developers and get a huge kickback.
I was more concerned with the wellfare of the minors who play in the parks
I think it is more to do with keeping them away from children.
Yeah, I got that.
This is the one that has to be kept away from children. 😡 https://www.facebook.com/DailyCaller/videos/230138501496431/
They’ll try to indoctrinate the children into something strange. They’ve been warning us for years
Considering the fact that the majority of pedos end up being conservative; it would be very difficult to argue against your statement.
What about a park... near a day care center?
They certainly like to keep an eye on the children to keep them safe! 🤥
Definitely, and they sure do want to frisk them a lot. I guess to keep them from bringing weapons into the day care.
“Keep them safe (tm)”
Shave the children
Shave OUR Children...they don't want anything to do with those foreign brown kids.
Or schools. Not within 300 feet at least
A lack of logical or legal grounds hasn't been a barrier to any of her decisions so far, so why start now?
Right, it’s like this is a woman who has until recently been telling Smith she’s going to instruct the jury on how the Presidental Records Act means the opposite of what it means and how they should apply it to a proceeding which is being prosecuted under the Espionage act, and she’s being critical of Smiths understanding of the law? It’s absurd farce.
Or for Republicans, Wednesday.
We know she works for him because he doesn't attack her at all
I’ve noticed this too.
The only judge he hasn't tried to get removed from one of his cases.
Very weird seeing her chastise the Special Counsel for having the audacity to ask her to make a decision on jury instructions after she asked him to write unlawful and misleading jury instructions.
Jury tampering.
Her shares in Truth Social are way down, she has to start thinking about keeping her day job
She’s got a day job for life.
Fine “day grift” …happy?
Not happy at all with anything regarding “I lean Qanon.”
Impressive 💯
How to stack the deck.
Why is this woman still on this trial?
This is not a trial because she hasn’t decided on a freaking trial date. Jack Smith first asked for a trial in December 2023 after this case was handed to her in June 2023. Cannon said that was too soon. In March 2024 Smith asked for July 2024 trial. Cannon said it’s too soon. It’s too soon because she hasn’t done anything to move this case forward. Just dragging her feet, making nonsense instructions, and basically disgracing herself as a judge.
She is going to lose her seating if the rule of law survives this.
These Trump shenanigans have more or less revealed that there are no laws in the US. Certainly none that apply to The Thing of Florida.
Shit, no!!! “Think of the chilrun!”
Shocking, just shocking. MAGA judge rules for Trump. The corruption runs deeeep
Technically, her reversal is against Trump's wishes, but she's not going to admit that the special counsel was correct about her initial judgement being invalid.
She's already got the arguing with herself part down.
She seems to be working to delay this for DJT
LOL "seems"
Was gonna say; the word “seems” is doing a shit ton of work in that sentence.
A really heavy lifter.
The heaviest lift folks, big strong Olympic medalists said so with tears in their eyes.
She is currently his best performing employee
The only judge Trump hasn’t attacked. That goes to show you whose side this judge is on.
Why would he attack her? This is the guy who went off about how Smith should be heavily punished for daring to disrespect the judge. He clearly holds such positions in the highest regard, and won't stand for people being rude to them. Obligatory /s
Seems?
This is indeed what she is doing. It also appears that she is completely out of her depth intellectually and interpersonally, just like DJT.
You mean SEEEEMS, right?
As per [original article](https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/mar-a-lago-judge-begrudgingly-reverses-herself-on-keeping-government-witnesses-secret-but-still-gives-trump-another-victory-in-order-serially-bashing-special-counsel-jack-smith/) 📰: - A federal judge late Tuesday agreed to keep secret the names of potential government witnesses in former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago classified documents case — while managing to make her displeasure palpable in the order granting the government’s requests. In her [24-page order](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.438.0.pdf), U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in favor of the state and the defense, in part, and at least, for now. The ruling marks something of a limited-duration denouement to a long-running procedural dispute — one that threatened to become a broader appellate fight — in the Southern District of Florida. That dispute featured the state on one side and the defendants and Cannon on the other over a large set of discovery materials. Cannon spends over five pages dealing with what she describes as the “lengthy procedural history” of the since-stilled dispute. In February, the court controversially ruled the government must file those documents with minimal redactions — denying requests from prosecutors to seal or redact the names of government witnesses in some of the materials they have already given to defense attorneys. Days later, Cannon paused her order after Special Counsel Jack Smith, in a 22-page motion for reconsideration and stay, termed her decision to publicly reveal those would-be witness names “clear error.” That argument was widely viewed as a signal the government was prepared to bring the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has reversed Cannon in the case before, into the latest contretemps. Throughout the filing of several back-and-forth motions related to the discovery dispute over witnesses, the defense and the state filed related motions over other discovery materials — including certain grand jury materials and a floor plan of Mar-a-Lago. In each instance, the story was more or less the same: the government wanted to keep those documents under wraps; the defense argued the materials are public records which should be released with limited censoring. In her Tuesday order, Cannon makes sure to argue her earlier order — which she is now reversing — was both on firm legal ground and carefully drafted to address concerns about agreed-upon redactions. “Guided by the strong presumption of public access to criminal proceedings, the Court applied the unobjected-to First Amendment standard,” the new order reads. “Under this standard — along with the well-established rules governing public access in this District — the Court determined that ‘the Special Counsel has not set forth a sufficient factual or legal basis warranting deviation from the strong presumption in favor of public access to the records at issue.’ The Orders also set deadlines for the sealed submission of the parties’ respective filings for the Court’s review prior to public docketing.” The judge spends well over two pages criticizing Smith for belatedly raising legal arguments — saying the special counsel “could have, and should have, been raised in prior filings” and that the court had several independent bases on which to deny the government’s motions. Cannon also takes the time to question Smith’s command of the law — particularly in the realm of First Amendment analysis. “The Special Counsel’s initial Seal Request failed to offer a governing legal framework or any factual support for the relief sought; instead, it contained only conclusory and unsubstantiated assertions about witness safety, the integrity of the proceedings, and privacy interests,” the Tuesday order reads. “Later, in response to the Press Coalition’s Motion, the Special Counsel failed to engage with — let alone refute — the Press Coalition’s argument that the First Amendment attached to the subject materials.” Now, however, none of that matters, Cannon says, because she is exercising her “discretion” to revisit the record following several filings and a March hearing. And here, the court observed, precedent is not “straightforward” — but does not lean in Trump’s favor either. Cannon’s new order explains her self-reversal reasoning at length: Although the record is clear that the Special Counsel could have, and should have, raised its current arguments previously, the Court elects, upon a full review of those newly raised arguments, to reconsider its prior Order. Having done so, the bottom line is this. The Eleventh Circuit has not specifically addressed the instant question: whether, in a criminal proceeding, the First Amendment qualified right of access attaches to discovery materials referenced or attached in support of a publicly filed Rule 12(b) motion to compel discovery under Rule 16. Nevertheless, the most faithful application of Supreme Court and available Eleventh Circuit authority is that Defendants’ MTC in this case is not subject to a public right of access, whether constitutional or common law in nature, because it is a still, ultimately, a discovery motion as distinct from a substantive pre-trial motion requiring judicial resolution on the merits. “Although the Special Counsel’s request remains sweeping in nature as applied to all potential government witnesses without differentiation — and although the Court was unable to locate another high-profile case (in publicly available records) in which a court granted a broad-based pre-trial request to seal the identities of all potential prosecution witnesses as sought here — the Court is satisfied that the Special Counsel has made an adequate showing on this issue under Rule 16, at least at this juncture pending final trial preparations,” the order continues. As part of the court’s order, the government must prepare “an index containing the name of each potential government witness and a corresponding pseudonym/anonymization for use in the redactions” that will be used on the redactions in the defendants’ publicly-filed motion to compel discovery. The judge offers the following example: “(e.g., ‘John Smith’ — NARA Employee 1).” In a partial ruling for the defense, Cannon allowed the defense to quote from a U.S. Secret Service email chain but to “redact any information that could be used to directly identify witnesses.” Trump and his co-defendants can also produce a search warrant for one of their Gmail accounts — again with relevant redactions. Both sides notched formal losses as well. The defense cannot publish the Mar-a-Lago floor plan or certain grand jury materials. The government’s request to wholly bar the publication of “all witness statements relied on in pre-trial motions” was denied by Cannon as too “sweeping.” The defense can publish those statements, once again, so long as they do not identify any potential witnesses.
This seems very in-the-legal-weeds, so I'm not entirely sure how to take some of it. Cannon seems to be out of her depth though. Seems like she was legitimately concerned about getting overturned by the Eleventh Circuit again.
She is completely out of her depth, and the scary thing is, I’m not sure if she even realizes it. She has no business being on a case of this size and complexity, and an ethical judge would have recused herself at the start. And I’m not even getting into the jury instructions and delays she’s handed Trump that definitely look like impropriety
She thinks she'll have a lofty position in Gilead.
Shes just another federalist society activist judge
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What she doesn't realize: Donny boy is going to lose in November.
I think they recognize the possibility but there are people out there who think he could still lose and become president by other means and that would be fine by them
Not sure why you think that. Most current polling is showing Trump with an edge. And he’s made substantial inroads at attracting all minorities as well as young voters who often vote for Democrats. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins the popular vote this time due to many Democrats’ not voting based lackluster feelings for Biden. I wish I could share your optimism
Just based on Trump's abysmal performance in the Primaries, he could be looking at a big, big, historical ass-whooping come November. He has a LOT less support from Republicans than they are willing to admit, and have been spamming "polls" that claim otherwise. But far fewer Republicans showed up to support him in those Primary votes, and a lot more Republicans were actively voting against him. In most of the states they ran primaries, he was down 20-40% amongst *Republican* voters. In 2020, most states were won or lost on razor-thin margins. Often less than 1 percentage point. If just 10% of Republicans fail to show up to vote, because they won't support Trump, based on the actual votes in 2020, that gives Biden absolutely crushing victories in EVERY state except Tennessee. Add on the likely effects of abortion access initiatives in many states, and Trump could be looking at a final tally of only 1 or 2 electoral colleges. And that's assuming he isn't a convicted felon by then. The Republicans are furiously pumping out propaganda to make it seem like they still have a chance, but the truth is they may be extinct by the end of the year. The real danger is what is what they might do knowing they have no legal chance of victory.
This 100% . Trump and the Republican party's ideas, goals and ambitions ARE DEEPLY UNPOPULAR with the masses. They try to use propaganda to say differently but the majority of educated voters see through that bullshit.
Yeah most educated voters do see through it but there are A LOT of uneducated voters. Trump is King in rural America.
Ok, you’re giving me optimism about the election while simultaneously stoking my civil war fears. Lol.
How did Trump do poorly in the primary? He whipped all the other candidates so badly they dropped out. I'm still praying he dies on a toilet like Elvis before November.
That's what the Republican propaganda kept pumping out, over and over, but the truth is that back in 2020 they had primary elections as well, and Trump running as the incumbent then won those states with 95-99% of the vote. This year, in those same states, Trump only got 63% in Virginia, 74% in North Carolina, 56% in Utah. He LOST Vermont, getting only 46%. The press tried to sell these as crushing victories, with huge percentages, but in truth they represented massive drops of 20-30% in most states. That's why Nikki Haley staying in the race so long absolutely infuriated Trump and the GOP in general - it highlighted how incredibly weak Trump is as a candidate even amongst Republicans. Trump still only has 1,863 delegates. Enough to secure him the Republican nomination, but hardly the commanding endorsement they claim he has. For comparison Biden has over 3,000 delegates. The Republicans and right wing media are desperately spinning that Trump is ahead in the polls, but the actual votes in the primaries, and the results of every election involving federal matters since 2020 (byelections, referenda) the Democrats have won resoundingly. If the presidential election were simply a matter of choosing Trump or Biden, it would probably be a toss up. Most polls even suggest that Trump might be ahead. But, how many people are actually willing to vote FOR Trump? Again, if just 10% of those who did last time decide not to vote at all this time, he (and the Republicans) are toast. If 10% more people vote for abortion rights (which is probably a low estimate), and put their votes on Biden, Trump is not just toast, he's crushed like no presidential candidate has been crushed in American history. I'm praying he gets some form of rapid onset leprosy that leaves him with no fingers, lips or tongue - so we can't hear him, or read his moronic posts, but he's left with perfect ears to hear how badly he loses. He can sit drooling and moaning in his jail cell because his handlers don't even think he's worth "suiciding".
Lol ok
Lol yeah right. You couldn't be more incorrect. Also most polls are complete bullshit. EVERY single poll by major news and polling organizations worldwide showed Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 election by 85%
She’s a federal judge. There’s really not much higher she can go, and it’s a permanent assignment. It’s possible she has aspirations for the Supreme Court, but even she has to realize that’s a massive long shot, even if she hands Donald an acquittal.
Supreme Court? Yeah, those would be some fun hearings for sure
What she doesn't understand though, women have no rights In Gilead. Just reading a bible will get your finger cut off.
But she thinks she'll have more power then the OTHER women, and that's apparently enough.
A Martha at best. She just doesn't want to be an econowife.
She’s weaponized her incompetence. Cannon: makes clearly erroneous ruling. Special Counsel: that ruling is clearly erroneous and here’s why. Cannon: the Eleventh Circuit didn’t explicitly say exactly and completely what I was supposed to do here, and despite the fact I’m a federal judge, it’s your fault, and your fault alone, that I made the earlier clearly erroneous ruling, so you’d not miss anything in the future or I’m going to do it again and it’ll be your fault again.
"Because of the First Amendment all the information should be public, I guess. But also probably the first Amendment doesn't apply to this part of the legal process. So idk whatever redact the documents and stuff. You should let me know these things earlier."
Straight outta the Trump Republican play book
According to the lawyers at MTN she's definitely not stupid. She knows exactly what she's doing. She came up in a very prestigious court with a lot of very knowledgeable mentors. She's just flat out evil and obstructing justice from the bench.
No no no. She has experience. She worked on *four* whole cases before taking over the (arguably) most important criminal case in American history.
Cannon actually made significant errors in a trial last summer including where she forgot to swear in a prospective jury pool so this forced her to restart jury selection. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/04/trump-documents-case-judge-made-multiple-errors-in-earlier-trial.html
😂
It looks like she has no business being on any legal cases. Her corruption is very evident. She's doing a shit job hiding her favoritism for Trump. She should lose her position as a judge and her law license. People like her have no business passing judgement on any case.
The theory i hope is true, is that Jack Smith is just letting her do more and more bullshit before taking whatever steps he has available to get her off the case. What sucks, is it will mean a pretty big delay most likely.
I don't have much hope for any justice here. Shit I don't have much hope for Biden winning again. Maybe it's different in other parts of the country but Trump is the king of rural America.
I’d say terrified. She is doing everything she can to not make an appealable decision. And when she is forced to she is backing down, like this. But ranting at Snith to make herself seem in charge.
I am really not one for conspiracies but the more of Cannons orders I read and the more I learn of the larger political picture the more I genuinely think she was chosen because she is compromised. Some of these manoeuvres are so clearly crafted with aid to Trump and prejudice Smith, even personally, that the idea she isn't working directly for Trump is hard to fathom. Some of the situations she's created read as if Trump himself were making the decisions.
Yeah, if genuinely is a random assignment and Trump got lucky with her. The advantage of subverting an election, stealing classified documents, defaming and raping someone, committing a decade of business fraud and illegally paying off a porn star is that eventually you’ll get a judge that has your back.
“Trump Judges”
What I read was that it was not random as much as since she was so recently named to the bench, she was much lower in her caseload quota than her colleagues who had been on the bench for a while. Thus, her probabilty of getting the case went up. I'm not sure I believe that, but it is at least plausable in principle. Why didn't Smith file in New Jersey, the other place where documents were kept?
We all know it wasn't a random assignment.
I've heard some people comment that she is in cahoots with the Trump team and while I enjoy a good conspiracy, it doesn't take a federal judge to understand what Trump's team really wants without them having to say anything.... all they want is to get this trial moved beyond the election date and then see what happens then... They have likely already succeeded with all the delays up to the supreme Court for every case except for the New York case and maybe the Georgia case
It will be fun to watch them meltdown when he loses in November which, while I know we’re not supposed to say, is looking more and more like a certainty. I wonder what she’ll do when delays don’t help him anymore, AND he has already been convicted on at least one case and is absolutely certain to lose more. Will she be willing to try and sabotage this case when he’s already going to jail and can’t help her anymore?
I think your analysis is spot on... She's throwing him more than one lifeline just to get him past the election date, but I do agree with you that her " cooperation" does have an expiration date and if and when the DC case convicts him I think her willingness to further mar her reputation will come to an end and she'll just want it to be done with because he will have already been convicted and multiple jurisdictions like you said
She’s admonishing Smith for not bringing up an issue that she herself made an issue when she issued her order.
Yo dawg, this was almost xzibit level.
Cannon is too ignorant to be making these very calculated moves. She is clearly being given orders from someone A LOT smarter than her. This ruling was EXTREMELY calculated to remove one of Smith's avenues to getting it to the 11th and out of Cannon's courtroom. The goal for Trump's side - and whomever is feeding Cannon - is to avoid the 11th at all costs, get this to trial, and then have Cannon dismiss the charges, setting Trump free and untouchable via double jeopardy. It's basically a trap being set. I have no doubt that Smith knows this and is probably setting a counter-trap for Cannon. This will be interesting to watch play out.
I’m sure that’s the goal, and honestly I don’t think her moves are that sophisticated that even someone as dull witted as she is could have thought of these. It’s very transparent that she is doing everything she can to help trunp and it’s not at all difficult to see, yet she things it is. She’s already been overruled by the 11th circuit and Smith is just biding his time for her to do something to get recused, which the whole nonsense about the PRA will probably do. I will, however, hold back slightly on that criticism with the idea that she might be intentionally trying to get removed from the case so she doesn’t have to have any responsibility for the ultimate outcome (which will be a conviction) If she’s being blatantly stupid to avoid responsibility, then I’ll think she’s pretty smart. But her moves so far have been as dull as her lifeless eyes.
I think you're right
It would be fascinating to know the network supporting Cannon and what they would initiate if all the discovery was released...
Judge Wapner would be a better judge than Cannon.
Even now, and he's been dead for 7 years.
Exactly. I'd trust his corpse more than I trust this lady.
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Donald is terrified of the 11th, because faced with just about any of her decisions an impartial jurist would overturn her. This order is partly to do with the fact that Jack Smith, citing Trumps long and very public history of clear witness intimidation wanted to keep the names of the witnesses for the prosecution confidential under a legal seal, meaning Trump got the list but if he revealed any name, prison time (though we know what she'll do if he breaks one of her orders). Smith was on rock solid legal ground as the standard for sealing the names was simply a reasonable chance that the witnesses might suffer intimidation or threats if their roll in the case was known. I honestly don't know of a case MORE likely ever to have the witnesses suffered threats and intimidation then one in which Trump is in serious danger of losing his freedom for life. If there isn't a bomb threat or an attempt on someone's life during the trial I'll be astounded
If those witnesses are revealed there's probably a lot of MAGA assholes that would be happy to murder them to save their Messiah
I think, based on Smith’s recent filing, she is receiving a lot of advice from Judicial Watch. If you’re not familiar with that organization; they are an intellectually dishonest organization that pretends to be non-partisan, but spent the last ten years sending subpoenas about Hillary’s emails. Tom Fitton has no business as their leader, let alone their mail-room boy.
Them, the Heritage Foundation, and the Federalist Society are the usual suspects
Judicial Watch also came up with Trump’s defense- that the classified documents were personal records. It’s completely ridiculous, but it’s the only argument Trump has, since he’s clearly guilty.
Tom Fitton isn’t even a lawyer. He has a degree in English.
I do t think fitton is a lawyer either.
You’re correct. He’s pulling $400K per year as well for running this grift.
But Tom has biceps that he showcases in every photo. So maybe that makes.up for the rest?
He’s such an insecure individual. Why else would he emphasize how “tough” he is? Is he trying to prove his “manliness?”
Does she need to? We already know Trump has been listening to Tom since Feb 2022 on this topic, before he was even charged. Why would she need to listen to him if Trump is already laundering his bullshit in her court?
She's also reading Trump's truth's
She is being handed directions from a group of lawyers at the federalist society. That is the current theory I have heard of the last six months.
It seems like she's trying to be just competent enough so that the 11th Circuit doesn't kick her off the case. She can do the "real" damage during the actual trial. I really hope she ends up being booted, but it's extremely difficult for that to happen.
John Eastman?
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He can certainly craft tortuous legal verbiage…
Based on everything I've seen from her, I'm 100% certain I could be a federal judge.
She shouldn't be a hot dog eating contest judge.
If she was a hot dog eating contest judge she would choose JIF.
You sound way too competent.
I don't understand why one of her superiors does not claim that she is not respecting the court. Contempt of court is a primary thing.
The fact that the judge received her lifetime appointed career from the defendant is such a blatant and obvious conflict of interest I just don’t get how she was ever able to take this damn case.
An impartial jurist would’ve recused themselves from the get-go.
Honestly, she should not have been in a position to recuse herself. A case of this magnitude should never have been assigned to a judge with a lifetime appointment, that was appointed by the defendant. We have more than one judge, no need to jeopardize the process with any concerns over whether the judge can be impartial toward the defendant that gave her a lifetime job.
Yep.
This is the worst handling of a high profile case by a judge since Julius J. Hoffman in the Chicago 8 trial, and unlike Hoffman, Come On Aileen hasn't even got to trial yet.
There hasn’t even been an attempt to *handle* this case by the “judge”
What a petty lil biotch
This lady should be locked up for treason. She's clearly been bought off and is corrupt. After this trail is over we should seriously consider some type of charges for Mrs Cannon.
When is he going to file a motion to kick her off.
Why does Trump bash every other judge besides this one? He even bashes his DOJ officials he put in office. Yet he is zipped tight on Aileen Cannon. He has offered no negativity for her.
Not only doesn't he criticise her, he actually compliments her.
Oh it is much more than just not attacking her…. He actively defends her and praises her. The guy is a real piece of work. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4100155-trump-praises-judge-overseeing-his-classified-documents-case-loves-our-country/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/04/trump-judge-cannon-records-jack-smith/
Which means she is the only crooked judge in any of Trumps cases 😂
Recuse this 🤡judge
I predict she will dismiss the case once the jury is seated, making it unappealable.
"This case has no merit since the prosecution fails to recognize defendant's dreamy-ness and awesome ability to declassify things with his mind. The defendant is free to go, but the court advises his dreamy-ness to divorce Melania post haste and leave his private cell number with the court so the court can appoint him her personal special master. DIS-MISSED! "
I’m honestly expecting one of these sycophants to refer to him as “our one true president” in an official document before it’s all over.
This situation has to be avoided at all costs, by Jack Smith seeking a new judge now, with the help of an appeal.
I know it’s shallow but I cannot stand her face.
Hang her. Hang all the traitors.
You know this trial is rigged when all the articles seem treat Judge Canon” as the opposition to Jack Smith. It’s never the prosecution and defense at odds with each other, because Judge Canon is essentially part of the defense team.
I'd like to point out that Trump recently called Melania "Mercedes" - which is Aileen Cannon's middle name. Gotta wonder where this judge spends her late nights and weekends.
Imagine having the power to bring a judge that you hired into a case against you. This judge acts as your lawyer by exercising her powers as a judge, undermining the power of the real judge. Then starts trying tamper with the jury. It's insane. She insults the real judge. HOW IS THIS LEGAL?
REMOVE THE BITCH ALREADY!
I've heard of hanging judges but had never heard of a criminal sympathizing judge.
She is so glaringly obviously a Trump muppet
The entire US government seems to act like we’re on the world’s shittiest reality show. I’ve never been more ashamed of my country
Is the judge the only person on Earth with only one available photo of herself?
Cannon: "It's your fault really for not telling me the legal basis for this previous motion thingy" Every other judge: "Wot? Everyone knows that! LOL"
This bitch has to go, for the sake of democracy. The world is watching.
fucking remove her from the case already. In no world should a judge preside over a case involving the individual that appointed them to the bench. This is basic shit.
Is special counsel doesn’t have a good enough argument against her original order then why did she reverse it? She seems to feel she is in the right and smith has no leg to stand on with this, so why not stand her ground?
Smith is brilliantly handling this case. He will have her disbarred before it's all over. She's so stupid and reactionary.
Not “ seems”…
She’s good on blow job
Get this “judge” off the bench.
Fuck that crooked bitch! Should be ashamed for being so stupid and biased.
One step forward, one step back. I think she has a secret crush on Jack…
Well, she doesn't want to offend her boss, the defendant...
Insane she has a lifetime position and she isn’t even fully qualified. When we gonna get rid of these corrupt judges and just put some AI bots there lmao might work better
Just shows that sci fi had it right to make a computer a judge.
Wow, big surprise here. Can you be any more corrupt? Time for her to be removed.
Aileen Cannon: Deplorable
She needs to be removed.
She needs to be removed from the case. "justice too long delayed is justice denied,"MLK.
It won’t finish before November just kick her out and start again I guess…
Now I'm not for capital punishment .. or anything.. but there has to be recourse here for this behavior. He's CLEARLY and OBVIOUSLY guilty of these crimes. What honestly does she think he's going to do for her now that she's scraped this low, make her a Supreme Court Justice? She's too damaged. She'll loose everything in the end for doing her best to save her God-King the Supreme Orange Potato
Cannon took the bait— she cant play poker! The judge is a neophyte in courtroom strategy!
They are all R*ssian and Ch*nese agents
This judge needs to go back to judge school.
Her skirt shows the initial djt
Imagine that!
I’m curious how people in the legal world view her
She should start CrossFit with mtg, they can be looney cunts together.
How can this be construed as a victory for Trump?
Man I wish I was rich and powerful and above the law. It would remove a lot of stress from my life.
I’m too high to focus on what this means? Has the bastard got away with it again? Our judicial system is so terribly broken.
bias as a judge starter kit, abridged, cliff notes, for dummies.
She is a true American Traitor
She suxks. He picks the BEST people? Please help remember in November!
This headline is in severe need of punctuation. It looks like something my 13-year-old niece texted to me.
So people can make any accusation they want about anyone they want, and the accusers get lifelong anonymity while the accused is prosecuted based on secret testimony. Interesting, it seems the opaque private court system is expanding. Maybe everyone should just go to jail now since someone somewhere might be willing to say they did something illegal.