Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon handed prosecutors in his Mar-a-Lago case a shocking ultimatum on Monday.

The MAGA-friendly federal judge who keeps siding with Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago classified records case has forced prosecutors to make a stark choice: allow jurors to see a huge trove of national secrets or let him go.

U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’sultimatum Monday night came as a surprise twist in what could have been a simple order; one merely asking federal prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers for proposed jury instructions at the upcoming trial.

But as she has done repeatedly, Cannon used this otherwise innocuous legal step as yet another way to swing the case wildly in favor of the man who appointed her while he was president.

Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith must now choose whether to allow jurors at the upcoming criminal trial to peruse the many classified records found at the former president’s South Florida mansion or give jurors instructions that would effectively order them to acquit him.

  • BoofStroke@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    66·
    8 months ago

    This ignorance alone should get her removed from the case. Dear Lord. There are laws and rules for how classified information must be handled. Wtf?

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
      1615·
      8 months ago

      There are also rules for evidence, which are generally the most important rulings in a criminal trial. Allowing the documents to be left out but also used as evidence is an obvious appeal that likely wins, secret evidence isn’t allowed.

      • capital@lemmy.world
        33·
        8 months ago

        How the fuck do you prosecute this case then? Read all the jury in just to see the evidence and then back out again?

        The jury needs to know if they’re classified. Why do they need to see the contents?

        • villainy@lemmy.world
          20·
          8 months ago

          This is what I’m asking. What do the contents of the documents have to do with the case at hand? How do the contents of these classified documents absolve him of the charges for making false statements and obstruction of justice?

          • borari@sh.itjust.works
            13·
            8 months ago

            And if the jury really needs to know the contents of the files, I don’t see any issue with just swearing in a jury of already cleared TS SCI w/Poly Commissioned Officers, or just full send it and let Trump get prosecuted in a military court. I’d love to see a bunch of GWOT brass ream that dudes asshole.

        • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
          229·
          8 months ago

          The government doesn’t get to just claim things. If they want beyond all reasonable doubt that files were actually dangerous they have to show the files. They could try just going the expert testimony route, but that is a lot harder to prove. Another option would be getting Trump to agree the documents were classified, but that’s a dumb move to agree.

          • noisefree@lemmy.world
            25·
            8 months ago

            Lol, the documents are either marked classified or not - he’s not being prosecuted for having “dangerous” (whatever that means) files, he’s being prosecuted for possessing and improperly handling classified files and trying to hide evidence of this and refusing to turn them over when asked to do so.

            The core of the alleged crime deals with documents that are classified, not the contents of the classified documents, it does not matter why the documents were classified, only that they are classified. Whether the documents should be classified or where to mundane to be classified in the first place is not something for the jury to consider and not what the prosecution is about; any suggestions to the contrary are smoke and mirrors meant to muddy public discourse.

            All the jury needs to be able to verify about the documents possessed by Trump is whether they were marked classified or not, which is a matter of record and is generally denoted by the documents being marked as such.

            The judge is being absolutely unreasonable here and the only benefit of the doubt she can be granted is that maybe she just doesn’t understand the law (which would be pretty much just as bad).

            This AP timeline of the events leading up to the indictment is a neutral recounting of the facts surrounding the case that should help provide a better understanding, assuming you’re posting in good faith.

          • Crashumbc@lemmy.worldEnglish
            17·
            8 months ago

            I’m pretty sure nothing in the law states that only “dangerous” classified stuff counts. The government absolutely has final say in what is classified.

      • Natanael@slrpnk.net
        11·
        8 months ago

        He didn’t choose most of these documents because of their contents, just because they’re classified to satisfy his power trip, so all the jury needs to know is that they’re genuine government documents which are classified which he didn’t have the right to take.

        If this case had involved what he did with information in it then sure, but it ISN’T

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        8 months ago

        Secret evidence is literally allowed all the time when dealing with secrets if the document in question is specs of nuclear weapons you redact all the strategically important info and allow them to see the header and subject matter without all the details.