United States District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump‘s MAL (Mar-a-Lago) classified documents criminal case in Florida, has entered “a paperless Order directing Trump to file a Response to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Motion to Modify Bond Conditions on or before June 14,” relays MSNBC correspondent Katie Phang. (If Smith needs to reply to the Response, he must do so on or before June 21.)
Note: Trump is charged with crimes related to keeping classified government documents after he left the White House and refusing to surrender those records after repeated requests. When FBI agents searched his home/resort with a search warrant, Trump called it a “raid” and said the agents had plans to “assassinate” him. (Trump was not present at Mar-a-Lago during the search.)
JUST IN: Judge Cannon in the MAL classified docs case enters a paperless Order directing Trump to file a Response to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Motion to Modify Bond Conditions on or before June 14. pic.twitter.com/HwWM8t93hP
— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) June 2, 2024
Phang added her take on Judge Cannon’s new order: “Clearly, Judge Cannon doesn’t seem to be worried about the safety of the law enforcement officers that have targets on their backs courtesy of Donald Trump’s spreading of lies about the MAL search warrant.”
[NOTE: A paperless order is simply docketed on the record, as Phang explained, “Sometimes the judge enters orders without generating a paper document.”]
Judge Cannon has been criticized by several legal analysts including Harvard Law constitutional law expert Laurence Tribe who wrote that Cannon “is quietly sabotaging the Trump case,” and should be removed from the case.
If Judge Cannon denied Smith’s motion, according to legal analyst Lisa Rubin, “it would have been immediately appealable to the 11th Circuit under federal statute.”
But perhaps most importantly, if Judge Cannon denies this motion, it is immediately appealable to the 11th Circuit under federal statute, which provides in relevant part:https://t.co/CmHJX87eQJ pic.twitter.com/kjh22r18HL
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) May 25, 2024