Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that special counsel Jack Smith should be punished a scathing speech against a recent request for jury instruction suggestions By the judge overseeing Trump’s case confidential documents case
Smith “should be sanctioned or censured for attacking the highly respected Judge Aileen Cannon who presided over the Florida docket fraud case,” Trump wrote. post to its Truth Social platform. “He’s nasty, rude and condescending and clearly a mean person trying to play ‘ref’.”
One Court appeal on TuesdaySmith denounced the order from Cannon’s office and Trump’s lawyers to fight the grand jury instructions, arguing that the request was justified. “Fundamentally flawed legal basis” which would “distort” the proceedings and potentially lead to a verdict aimed at Trump. Smith indicated that federal prosecutors would appeal if he ruled that the judge should make an “urgent” decision to decide whether the legal basis for his order was a “proper formulation of the law.”
There was Cannon Trump and ordered Smith’s office to present two versions of proposed instructions to the jury Regarding the Presidential Records Act in connection with the Espionage Act charges against Trump for his mishandling of classified documents. The Presidential Records Act is the basis of a key element of Trump’s defense, which he argues gives him the authority to decide whether documents are personal or presidential, so he can keep them after he leaves office. Smith’s office dismisses that legal interpretation as false. The law itself requires the archiving of presidential records, in addition to personal records such as “diaries, journals, and medical records.”
One scenario in Cannon’s jury instruction would allow jurors to review records kept by Trump and decide which are “personal” or “presidential” under the Presidential Records Act. In the second scenario, lawyers were asked to make suggestions to the jury that mirrored Trump’s arguments based on the assumption that presidents have the “sole authority” under the act to legally retain records when they leave office, labeling them “personal” or “presidential” records. case
Smith’s office declined to comment on Trump’s post. His office said in a statement Tuesday that Trump’s use of the Presidential Records Act as a defense in the classified documents case “has no basis in fact.”
“This is post hoc reasoning, concocted more than a year after he left the White House, and his appeal to this Presidential Records Act Court is not based on any decision he actually made to appoint anyone during his presidency. records are incriminating,” prosecutors said.
Former president facing numerous charges after his presidency in connection with alleged wrongdoings involving classified documents, including willful withholding of national defense information, false statements and representations, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges. In February he requested the termination of the confidential documents case, claiming he is immune from prosecution under presidential immunity. Cannon has yet to make a decision on the matter.
Dareh Gregorian contributed.