The latest from Trump lackeys, Eileen Cannon, has earned her the name. In a bizarre twist of usual procedure she has asked Special Counsel and the defenant Trump to brief two proposed jury instructions, both of which mistate the current law applicable to Espionage Act prosecutions. A trial date has not even been set in the case! At the urging of Trump amicus loonies, she has proposed jury instructions that would guarantee an acquittal of the insurrectionist. How the prosecution is supposed to "engage" her peculiar order is unclear. By conflating the Presidential Records Act with the requirements of the criminal law, she attempts to create a non-existent defense to the illegal retention of national defense secrets. She thinks, at the urging of Trump's mob, that the PRA allows a president to categorize personal records which he may retain when leaving office that is conclusive as matter of fact, and without first declassifying all classified information that may be contained within personal records. In other words, magical declassification by boxing. In the other proposed instruction, she allows the jury to make these category determinations.
Bottom line: her order is schmegeggge. Pundits, including US Person, are urging the Special Counsel to take this matter and her other errors up with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and ask for her removal from the case. Her bias in favor of her benefactor is too glaring to ignore and perhaps exceeded only by her inexperience. Just prior to this bizarre order, she authorized the public release of the identities of witnesses against her boss, contrary to practice in Espionage Act prosecutions. At the beginning of the case she appointed a special master to examine the records in issue, which the Eleventh said exceeded her judicial discretion. A third strike would give the appellate court grounds to remove her and reassign the case under 28 USC §2106. Even if the case is reassigned on appeal, it is unlikely to go to trial before the election and Cannon's job will be done. If elected, the Boss would owe her big time; Clarence, keep that seat warm!
In New York, DA Alvin Bragg says most of the newly discovered documents from the SDNY are immaterial or duplicative to his prosecution of Don 'Legit' for business records fraud. He told Judge Merchan this week that the trial should go forward in April. Bragg, in his filing, denied that his office had committed any discovery violations and had made a good faith, diligent effort to obtain the documents from the SDNY.
credit: M . Lukovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
