Anger as Trump-appointed judge dismisses motion in classified documents case

A district judge Donald Trump appointed in the last few days of his presidency has sided with the former POTUS, and rejected a request from US Department of Justice lawyer Jack Smith to find out if the Republican intends to use a defence known as “advice of counsel” in the court case concerning Trump taking classified documents from the White House.

As the United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit explains, in a court case the government has to “prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that a defendant carried out an unlawful act with “unlawful intent”, and that “evidence that the defendant in good faith followed the advice of counsel would be inconsistent with such an unlawful intent”.

However, in an order made on Friday, Judge Aileen Cannon said: “Assuming the facts and circumstances in this case warrant an order compelling disclosure of an advice-of-counsel trial defense, the Court determines that such a request is not amenable to proper consideration at this juncture.”

Lawyer Katie Phang put this into plain English on Twitter/X by writing that the order is basically arguing that it is “too early in the litigation to consider forcing Donald Trump to have to disclose this information”.

All of this legal back-and-forth comes as the DOJ looks to take the case to trial before the 2024 presidential election, something Trump and his lawyers have pushed back against.

Although Judge Cannon has sided with Trump on the matter of Smith’s motion, she did – in November - reject calls from the politician to postpone the May 2024 trial date, and that the issue would instead be considered in a scheduling conference held in March.

This latest decision from the judge, however, has angered social media users:

In 2022 Judge Cannon backed his request to have an independent “special master” take a look at the classified documents before the Department of Justice does, and in June last year she rejected Smith’s motion to seal (that is, not release) a list of witnesses the former president is banned from contacting in relation to the legal dispute.

Trump has also praised Judge Cannon in the past while the case – which he continues to reject – was ongoing, branding her “very smart and very smart” and someone who “loves our country” back in July.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.