What lit a fire under Aileen Cannon?
Something or someone has lit a fire under Judge Aileen Cannon. Suddenly, she’s acting as the judge in Donald Trump’s case and not his protector. Cannon recently ruled against Trump’s ridiculous request to have unsecured classified documents at the very location from which they were confiscated. Trump doesn’t need a secure room to look at documents he stole to prepare his defense. Preparing his defense is his attorneys’ job, not his. This case is far outside his typical Romper Room antics.
Instead of granting Trump’s request, Cannon ordered the establishment of a working space in a secure facility. Cannon went one step further by advising Trump that violation of the conditions of her order could bring criminal penalties, civil penalties, or both, and she is not allowing Trump to create any further delays in the case. This doesn’t sound like the same judge. According to Raw Story, Cannon issued several orders Wednesday, but the fourth one contained another blow to Trump’s ability to delay.
Cannon’s order contained a count of the documents, which she placed at 3,500 pages that are “classified at various levels.” Frankly, Trump shouldn’t be able to view any of them. He is no longer president, and he can’t really help prepare his defense because his attorneys are going to have to jump hoops to create a defense for him. He had no legitimate reason to have those documents at Mar-a-Lago, but that’s beside the point. The point is that Cannon seems to be cracking down and taking this case seriously.
According to legal analyst Lisa Rubin, the total amount of classified documents to be reviewed does not allow room for delaying this trial any further. Specifically, Cannon wrote that “any motion to extend deadlines related to CIPA Section 4 [see ECF No. 83 p. 5) shall be made on or before September 22, 2023 (emphasis supplied), following meaningful conferral.” Like Judge Chutkan, Cannon is making defense counsel aware that they must confer with the Special Counsel prior to asking to extend deadlines. Cannon further restricted disclosure of classified information to anyone other than the court. The most telling thing in Cannon’s order is that she primarily sided with the Special Counsel, perhaps because, as Huffington Post pointed out, the government argued that Trump should be treated like any other criminal defendant.
As the Special Counsel showed, Mar-a-Lago is anything but secure. It is open to hundreds of members, and before the documents were confiscated, they were certainly not secure, especially in the bathroom. One of the more interesting parts of Cannon’s ruling was her directive that neither Trump nor his attorneys may discuss or disclose any of the information relating to classified materials. Cannon’s ruling basically endorsed the limitations requested by the Special Counsel’s office, and Trump and his attorneys may only discuss classified documents within the created secure place-which excludes public discussions and ramblings by Trump on his failed social media site. Trump is likely fit to be tied, but they can no longer claim that Judge Chutkan is not objective, since her rulings mirror those made by Cannon.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years