Global Courant
Former President Donald Trump.Alex Wong/Getty Images
It certainly looks like they really have Trump where they want him this time!
Except he’ll probably get a favorable judge.
And she will have tremendous power to prevent Trump from being convicted.
If you think former President Donald Trump is finally, really, really, but this time for real, about to face trial, hold on.
He may have it easy.
Yes, it sounds like this new charge against Trump is pretty strong. Even Fox News’ top legal commentator thinks so. He called it “extremely devastating.” And we don’t see nearly as much skepticism as we saw after that The indictment of New York Attorney General Alvin Braggor.
But Ken White, a former federal prosecutor turned leading attorney, sees a quick way out of trouble for Trump.
He said all Trump needs is a judge who is completely in the tank for him — a judge willing to sacrifice their reputation to protect him.
Guess what?
That’s what it looks like Trump is going to get: Judge Aileen Cannon.
As my colleagues, including Kimberly Leonard, reported on Friday, Cannon got a lot of criticism last year when she ruled that an independent arbitrator should review all documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago.
The Justice Department appealed the decision and was rewarded with a ruthless reprimand of Cannon by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The smackdown was particularly notable because it came from a panel of judges including several Republican nominees.
Besides being a fancy defense attorney, White also co-hosts a legal podcast with Josh Barro called “Serious Trouble.”
Reflecting on Cannon’s ruling to appoint an independent arbitrator (called a “special master”) and other decisions she made in handling the government’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents, Barro told White at the podcast that Cannon has shown a “willingness to behave in ways most justices probably wouldn’t, even if they were partisan Republicans.”
Story continues
“Sure,” replied White. “She’s willing to break the Meat Loaf Rule: I do everything for love. But I don’t.”
White says there are usually a “number of factors” that smooth out even partisan judges and move them “to the center.”
He listed a few: “Their relationship with other colleagues, their reputation, their hopes of being elevated to a higher bench, their place in history, you know, cocktail parties, lawyer opinions, that sort of thing.”
“But sometimes,” White said, “judges just don’t give a shit, and Judge Cannon’s behavior in this case in the past was some very big steps toward I don’t give a shit.”
White suspects Cannon is imagining what she could get out of a second Trump presidency.
“You have a situation where it’s not even hard to imagine: for her to acquit Trump, for Trump to be elected, for Trump to elevate her to the 11th Circuit or the Supreme Court. He would totally do it. His fans would totally approve And it would just be a giant middle finger to the country. And I mean, he would.”
So how exactly could Cannon protect Trump and end this case against him in the blink of an eye?
“She can put things off forever by making rulings that cannot be appealed. She can make rulings that, while not undermining the case, make it very difficult, such as excluding evidence by saying the evidence is false collected,” White said. “And that may be something that has a very unfavorable criterion on appeal.”
“So, for example, if she were to decry all of these Trump statements, ‘That’s too biased. It’s unfair. I’m keeping it out.'” If that’s going to be appealed, that’s a standard for abuse of discretion, and normally you can’t appeal it for the case.”
And Cannon could go even further than that, White said.
“The most drastic thing is that she can do things that can’t be fixed. Once a jury is assembled, she can dismiss the case. And there’s nothing anyone can do about that. grant a motion for targeted acquittal following the government’s case. And then we’re done. You cannot be tried again, you cannot be reviewed. It is over.’
White’s analysis on the Serious Trouble podcast left his cohost, Josh Barro, a little baffled.
Barro asked White, “Is it possible that the Justice Department is putting us in a situation that not only could result in no convictions here, but could ultimately lead to a chain of events quite damaging to the federal judiciary?”
“Absolutely,” said White.
He continued.
“People say that by impeaching Trump, you stir up his base. You make him more likely to get elected. And then he gets a more conservative judiciary, isolates himself more, forgives himself, all that sort of thing.” of things. And it’s all true. That is all perfectly possible.’
“But if you’re the Justice Department, you can’t think like that. Okay, you just can’t think that we have to pull out of the rule of law now because it’s too costly politically.”
“When they do, they basically give up.”
Read the original article Business Insider
