Every intellectually honest person knows exactly what is going on here, including Judge Aileen Cannon.
Judge Cannon had previously blocked the Jack Smith effort to release his politically framed report on the Trump Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. The reason is simple, the DOJ is still prosecuting other defendants in the case in her courtroom. A release of this report, even to congress, would be tantamount to the DOJ releasing public information negative toward the accused who have not even stood trial yet.
The Jack Smith special counsel operation is concluded, and there was no representative of the special counsel’s office in the courtroom Friday as the DOJ tried to argue they should be allowed to release the report to congress. Judge Aileen Cannon was not buying their story about why such urgency was needed. Everyone knows this is a political framework and pure lawfare.
FLORIDA – […] “Why is there such urgency to disclose this to Congress right now, prior to the conclusion of the criminal proceeding — which would seem to be the ordinary course?” Cannon asked veteran Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Shapiro. “At the end of the day, what’s the upside of doing this right now?”
Shapiro cited the “historical practice” of sending special counsel reports to Congress and a commitment by Garland to be “fully transparent” about the results of such investigations.
“I’m still not hearing a satisfying answer to that question,” Cannon said.
That prompted Shapiro to acknowledge that Garland only has control over the report for a few more days, given Trump is expected to replace him on Monday with an acting attorney general.
“His time is limited. He appointed these special counsels,” Shapiro said of Garland.
Shapiro said the conditions Garland has proposed for the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committee to review the report — namely that they can only review it at the Justice Department, without electronic devices or staff, and must agree to keep its findings confidential — all but eliminate any danger of it becoming public.
“There’s virtually no likelihood that the report can leak,” Shapiro said.
However, lawyers for Trump and his two former co-defendants in the classified documents case — Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira — said it was clear that Cannon had no authority to police any potential breaches of those conditions by lawmakers. They also argued it was more or less guaranteed that Trump’s political opponents would disclose the information in some fashion.
“The courts cannot order members of Congress to do things,” said Nauta’s attorney Stanley Woodward, who raised his hand as he mocked the secrecy pledge as a “scout’s honor” oath.
“For all intents and purposes, it would really be a release publicly,” Trump attorney John Lauro said.
Cannon noted that the precise scope of grand jury secrecy is often hashed out between parties in a criminal case and resolved by a judge. “In this case, it appears to be a decision that was made entirely unilaterally” by Smith’s team, the judge said.
Cannon also said she received a copy of the report for review on Thursday and that it appeared to contain information Trump’s lawyers had previously argued was covered by attorney-client privilege. (read more)
