Down to the wire

| 9:57 am EDT July 18, 2023
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Judge Aileen Cannon is preparing to step into the spotlight again as she conducts a pretrial conference in Donald Trump’s document theft case. She knows everyone is watching her. She made erroneous rulings, unfounded in law, in the case before criminal charges were brought. She was soundly rebuked for those rulings by a three-judge panel from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, two of whom were appointed by Donald Trump. Unlike Cannon, they focus on the law and not some unbridled gratitude for being appointed to the bench. We might also find out whether she is planning to help Trump delay this trial indefinitely or whether she will stick to the law.

The main purpose of today’s hearing is to establish procedures for handling classified documents, but it is highly likely that Trump’s ridiculous request to delay this trial will be addressed. Prosecutors have opposed this delay, calling Trump’s motion “frivolous.” Virtually everything Trump does is frivolous. Why should this be any different? He unnecessarily tied up several courts with frivolous lawsuits after he lost the election, and they were all summarily dismissed. Because she was so publicly rebuked before, most legal experts believe Cannon will rule based on the law.

Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. Attorney in Miami, was quoted by the Independent: “She is not going to want to do anything but go by the book. The challenge is there has never been a book like this.” That may well be true; however, the law is the law, and the law does not side with Donald Trump. He continues to claim that as a former president, he had the right to take whatever he wanted when he left the White House. In fact, just this past weekend during his speech at turning Point Action, he said: “Whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the absolute and unquestioned right to do so. This was a law that was passed and signed, and it couldn’t be more clear.” Think again. Salon reported that legal experts had a field day. Laurence Tribe tweeted: “Nope. No such law exists. Period,” while Bradley P. Moss wrote: “This isn’t a legitimate legal argument. It’ll fail in court. It’s a political talking point. That’s all.” Let’s just say that these men know more about the law that Trump ever will. He continues to put his foot in his mouth while Jack Smith continues to investigate.

Last week it was reported that a Trump employee received a “target letter,” which is exactly what it says: that person is the target of criminal prosecution. Donald Trump received such a letter. While we don’t yet know the identity of this target, we do know from several sources that it has to do with surveillance video at Mar-a-Lago, which has probably been destroyed or hidden. As the saying goes, you can run, but you can’t hide, and Mar-a-Lago employees had better take heed. In the meantime, Judge Cannon had herself better take heed. This prosecution is not to be taken lightly, and she might want to stick with the law.