A legal expert for CNN has shared some concerning news with special counsel Jack Smith regarding his classified documents case against former President Donald Trump. In response to a three-page order by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, analyst Elie Honig expressed his belief that Smith should be “very worried.” Although Cannon denied Trump’s request to have the case dismissed based on the Presidential Records Act, she also criticized Smith’s characterization of her order. This suggests that there may be more legal battles in this historic prosecution of a former president and presumed GOP presidential candidate.
As CNN host Brianna Keilar asked “Where does this leave the timeline of this case, Elie?”, Honig responded with “Well, a mess, in short.” He added that there is no way the case would have been tried before the election, and other pending issues are arising. Legal experts have speculated that Smith might appeal to the 11th Circuit to seek Cannon’s removal from the case, but Honig believes that her ruling has largely thwarted that possibility.
Honig explained that if a trial were to take place, it could be confusing and complicated for the jury. Trump is currently facing 32 counts related to violating the Espionage Act, a World War I-era law that many legal and constitutional experts have criticized as unconstitutional and unfair. Smith claims these charges stem from Trump’s possession of government documents and his efforts to impede their recovery, which were discovered during an FBI search at Mar-a-Lago. Former Vice President Mike Pence and then-former senator and Vice President Joe Biden also possessed similarly classified materials without facing any charges.
In his legal filing that Cannon rejected, Trump claimed the Presidential Records Act supersedes the Espionage Act under which Smith charged him. However, her ruling left open the possibility for Trump’s legal team to argue this claim during his trial, whenever it takes place. Additionally, in her order, Cannon scolded Smith for seeking jury instructions prematurely, “prior to trial, prior to a charge conference, and prior to the presentation of trial defenses and evidence.
