U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appears poised to ignore urgent pleadings from Special Counsel Jack Smith, and possibly, experts warn, put confidential witnesses at risk.
Judge Cannon, overseeing the trial of Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents and Espionage Act case, this week ordered the Special Counsel to hand over to Trump’s lawyers the names of witnesses in a previously unknown DOJ investigation into death threats those witnesses allegedly received. She also ordered Smith to hand over to Trump lawyers the contents of those death threats.
Smith quickly moved, urgently asking her to reconsider, noting it was contrary to established procedure and could put lives at risk.
Late Friday afternoon Cannon rejected Smith’s plea, instead ordering him to hand over to Trump’s lawyers the “sealed” information by Saturday, pending what she suggests is further consideration: “The exhibit shall remain sealed pending further Court order.”
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MSNBC legal contributor and correspondent Katie Phang posted the order:
Attorney Ben Meiselas, co-founder of the MeidasTouch Network, says Cannon’s Friday afternoon move is “effectively imperiling the safety of witness and intentionally compromising the DOJ investigation!”
On Wednesday, Special Counsel Smith had notified Judge Cannon of his intent to file a motion to reconsider, including sealed information for only her to review.
“The exhibit describes in some detail threats that have been made over social media to a prospective Government witness and the surrounding circumstances, and the fact that those threats are the subject of an ongoing federal investigation being handled by a United States Attorney’s Office. Disclosure of the details and circumstances of the threats risks disrupting the investigation.”
Smith added, “short of sealing the exhibit, e,g., redaction of persons’ names, will not suffice to protect the integrity of the investigation because even with such names redacted, the details of the exhibit could reveal investigative methods, potentially further endanger the victim, and/or provide information to the suspect to which he/she may not otherwise be entitled.”
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Smith had written that the “discovery material, if publicly docketed in unredacted form as the Court has ordered, would disclose the identities of numerous potential witnesses, along with the substance of the statements they made to the FBI or the grand jury, exposing them to significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation, and harassment, as has already happened to witnesses, law enforcement agents, judicial officers, and Department of Justice employees whose identities have been disclosed in cases in which defendant Trump is involved,” according to Law & Crime.
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin explains Cannon’s order, directing Smith to hand over the information Trump’s ;lawyers requested, “would, among other things, reveal the names of two dozen people who have participated in the Mar a Lago investigation.”
“If information about an ongoing federal investigation into threats to a prosecution witness is not worthy of an ex parte, under seal filing, I don’t know what is,” Rubin adds. “And the fact that this latest directive forcing disclosure was made in the context of Smith’s motion for Cannon’s reconsideration of two more extensive orders also forcing premature disclosure of investigative details and witness identities is mind boggling.”