Judge Aileen Cannon is preparing to unseal motions filed by President Trump regarding the Mar-a-Lago raid and the unlawful order by Obama-appointed judge Beryl Howell that breached Trump’s attorney-client privilege.
Cannon held a telephonic status conference on Wednesday to discuss Howell’s order, which effectively nullified Trump’s attorney-client privilege.
Previously, Howell ordered Trump’s lawyer Evan Corcoran to testify before a grand jury as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into “classified” documents kept at Mar-a-Lago.
Judge Howell effectively turned Trump’s own attorney, Eric Corcoran, into a witness by nullifying Trump’s attorney-client privilege with her ruling.
Judge Cannon’s latest ruling, first reported by investigative journalist Julie Kelly, deals yet another blow to special counsel Jack Smith’s repeated efforts to maintain redactions to conceal coordination between his office, the White House, and the U.S. National Archives.
Cannon’s ruling will bring to light two previously undisclosed defense motions. One motion accuses Smith of an “Unlawful Piercing of Attorney-Client Privilege,” while the other seeks dismissal based on “Prosecutorial Misconduct and Due Process Violations.”
NEW: Judge Cannon preparing to unseal nonpublic defense motions filed by Trump related to Mar a Lago raid, DC Judge Beryl Howell order that pierced atty-client privilege in docs case, and a prosecutorial abuse motion.
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 9, 2024
Keeps getting good… pic.twitter.com/7RrNIagnWe
Judge Cannon’s pretrial decisions follow her indefinite suspension of Trump’s classified documents trial. This delay means Smith’s trial may not conclude before Election Day, given Trump is already enjoying lengthy delays due to the Supreme Court hearing his claims of presidential immunity.
Alina Habba, one of President Trump’s lawyers, argues that the FBI concealed its raid on Mar-a-Lago by security cameras to be shut down, which could have recorded the search. Describing Special Counsel Jack Smith as a “Democrat activist,” Habba highlighted potential biases that could compromise the case against Trump. These concerns, raised by the president’s former legal team, suggest prejudicial influences may have already affected grand jury proceedings.
In a motion on Friday, Jack Smith admitted that the FBI had tampered with the boxes containing “classified” documents seized from Trump, resulting in uncertainty regarding the order and placement of the documents.
In a footnote, Smith’s team quietly admitted that they had misled Judge Aileen Cannon’s courtroom regarding the issue. Previously, they had claimed that the evidence remained unchanged in its original state after seizure.
