Jack Smith Issues Veiled Threat to Judge Cannon Over Her Jury Instructions in Trump Classified Docs Case

by Cristina Laila

Special Counsel Jack Smith issued a veiled threat to Judge Aileen Cannon in response to her jury instructions.

Last month Judge Aileen Cannon issued a jury instruction order in Jack Smith’s classified documents case and the leftist legal analysts went apocalyptic.

Cannon gave two options for jury instructions.

The first option:

In a prosecution of a former president for allegedly retaining documents in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 793(e), a jury is permitted to examine a record retained by a former president in his/her personal

possession at the end of his/her presidency and make a factual finding as to whether the government has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it is personal or presidential using the definitions set forth in the Presidential Records Act (PRA).

The second option is:

A president has sole authority under the PRA to categorize records as personal or presidential during his/her presidency. Neither a court nor a jury is permitted to make or review such a categorization decision. Although there is no formal means in the PRA by which a president is to make that categorization, an outgoing president’s decision to exclude what he/she considers to be personal records from presidential records transmitted to the National Archives and Records Administration constitutes a president’s categorization of those records as personal under the PRA.

“Cannon seems inclined to push the case to trial but is basically asking if she can stack the deck so Trump wins,” CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen said.

MSNBC’s legal reporter Jordan Rubin responded with “Judge Aileen Cannon is at it again.”

Jordan Rubin said Cannon is “apparently contemplating instructions that could effectively win Trump’s case for him…”

A J6 defense attorney told investigative reporter Julie Kelly that if Cannon gives these jury instructions, Jack Smith is “f*cked.”

Jack Smith responded to Cannon’s jury instruction order with a veiled threat: Do things his way or he’s going to seek “mandamus” at the appellate court so they can tell her what to do with the jury instructions!

Reading Jack Smith’s response on jury instructions and it’s clear that the gloves are off btw DOJ and Judge Cannon.

One defense attorney just told me: “The tone Smith is taking with Cannon is no longer persuasion but outright threats. Unheard of dynamic btw DOJ and the bench.”
–Julie Kelly

Jack Smith is completely hysterical because he has virtually no control over Judge Cannon’s final jury instructions.

Jack Smith’s response is hysterical (and not in a funny way in a desperate way) bc he knows he has little control over her decision related to final jury instructions.

And he is arguing the basis for Trump’s “unauthorized possession” of national defense material rests on Obama exec order not the Presidential Records Act.

So everyone who cried for months that “DRUMPF BROKE THE PRA!” can sit down. Jack Smith says PRA now has nothing to do with the case.

Also reminder of the bait and switch here. NARA sought files based on the claims Trump was violating the PRA. He produced 15 boxes of papers. NARA then claimed they found records with “classified markings” and sent a criminal referral (1st time ever) to FBI.

FBI promptly opened investigation. FBI sent a subpoena to Trump in May 2022 seeking more records with “classified markings.” They turned over 38 more files.

Then in August, FBI sought search warrant seeking “national defense information.” Reminder too we have not seen full unredacted application for search warrant.

Did DOJ seek warrant under the PRA or the Espionage Act or Obama’s Exec Order or….what?

–Julie Kelly

Now Jack Smith is threatening to take the jury instruction fight to the appellate court.

Via Julie Kelly: Smith demanded that Cannon rule now on jury instructions (she doesn’t have to) or dismiss the counts so he can appeal. If she doesn’t, he might seek “mandamus” at appellate court–asking 11th Circuit to tell Cannon what to do in the case.

This is why Smith is so angry–he knows if Cannon proceeds with the proposed scenario presented in her jury instructions order, he is, as one defense attorney told me at the time, f*cked.

He essentially demands that she rule now on jury instructions (she doesn’t have to) or dismiss the counts so he can appeal. If she doesn’t, he might seek “mandamus” at appellate court–asking 11th Circuit to tell Cannon what to do in the case. Very rare.

–Julie Kelly

Jack Smith last year charged Trump with 31 counts under the Espionage Act related to presidential records lawfully stored at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump’s attorneys recently filed a flurry of motions to dismiss Jack Smith’s classified docs case.

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