The MAGA-friendly federal judge who keeps siding with Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago classified records case has forced prosecutors to make a stark choice: allow jurors to see a huge trove of national secrets or let him go.
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’sultimatum Monday night came as a surprise twist in what could have been a simple order; one merely asking federal prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers for proposed jury instructions at the upcoming trial.
But as she has done repeatedly, Cannon used this otherwise innocuous legal step as yet another way to swing the case wildly in favor of the man who appointed her while he was president.
Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith must now choose whether to allow jurors at the upcoming criminal trial to peruse the many classified records found at the former president’s South Florida mansion or give jurors instructions that would effectively order them to acquit him.
I sort of think that showing them the secrets would actively harm Trump because it would become obvious just how dangerous the material is. I don’t think she’s really thought this thing through.
Is the gambit here that they weren’t actually that bad?
No, I think that they are actually that bad. I also think that the judge is dumb enough to have actually now placed these super important documents in the hands of 12 jurors plus some alternates in an effort to bow to her orange master. My take: she’s not actually that smart but thinks she is and she thinks she just did a “gotcha”. I believe that a jury seeing them would be shocked at what was left in a bathroom for anyone to steal.
Genuine question - do we know enough to know these were that bad?
I’d definitely believe what you’re saying too but curious how much we know about the contents.
Edit: lol at the downvotes, lemmy
We do: Trump is facing a criminal trial over them. They wouldn’t be classified if they weren’t sensitive.
The defining characteristic of US classified documents is that their release would cause some degree of damage to US national security, ranging from harmful to gravely harmful. here’s a Cornell Law writeup that squares with what I know here.
Regardless of any opinions one might have as to the use and application of classification, in the eyes of the US government taking these documents without authorization is harmful by definition.
If something is classified at that level that only top people can see it, then it’s bad. Not like “here is how to make a reactor” type make, but more like “here are all our spies, weapons projects, and seriously damaging information if it fell into the wrong hands”.
Which would be Trump’s tiny hands.
Yes we know from the reports of the documents that they included nuclear secrets and human intelligence sources. The later could cause people who are spying for us to be prosecuted and murdered and the mere suggestion that an idiot could leak this data has probably unfixably damaged our ability to collect intel for the next 20 years.
Within a classification level there isn’t “bad” and “less bad”.
If we prosecute anyone for leaking classified, we should prosecute anyone/everyone for leaking classified.
What’s the least bad thing that would be worth classifying and also stealing
Corporate espionage stuff. Some pile of documents a gov agency reviewed for compliance reasons, and which a competitor wants.
She is helping Trump extend the trial until after the election.
If she can help him get elected, then he can order the Justice Department to drop the case.