Cannon Delays Again

Just like she always does, Cannon misses the forest for the trees.

You’ll recall at the end of last week, Jack Smith and Jay Bratt filed a motion for Judge Cannon to modify Trump’s bail conditions to place a limited gag order on him prohibiting his continued attacks on law enforcement using a conspiracy theory that the FBI and Joe Biden had tried to assassinate him during the Mar-a-Lago raid.

You’ll also recall that the DoJ stated the reached out to the defense for a “meet and confer”, but they refused and asked for a few more days to discuss it. The government felt that their motion was too important to wait, so they filed it anyhow.

Over the weekend, Trump’s lawyers filed a ridiculous response seeking sanctions against the DoJ lawyers for violating the “meet and confer” rule.

Today, Judge Cannon denied trump’s motion for sanctions, and also denied without prejudice Jack Smith’s motion for a modification of the bail conditions. She stated that it was unprofessional for the DoJ to file their motion absent a meaningful meet and confer.

Since this denial is without prejudice, she hasn’t denied or granted it based on the actual merits, so it is not yet appealable to the 11th circuit. In usual Cannon fashion, she has made a decision without actually making a decision - delaying the issue and kicking the can down the road.

Jack Smith has a few options. He can hold a “meaningful” meet and confer with defense counsel and then re-file his motion. He can add to the filing a declaration from someone who has received threats to strengthen his motion. Or he can drop it and move on. But he can’t yet appeal to the 11th circuit.

Since this is a matter of the utmost importance, I imagine Jack Smith will hold a meet and confer and re-file his motion. I hope he includes some evidence to bolster his argument, too.

I also imagine that in the spirit of delaying shit until forever, Judge Cannon will schedule a hearing to consider the motion. She may even ask for briefings to which trump could attach exhibits that need redactions - filing it on the secret docket to litigate the redactions as well.

I do want to convey that IF the DoJ re-files, and IF Cannon denies with prejudice their motion, and IF DoJ then appeals to the 11th circuit - I don’t think Jack Smith will ask to have her removed from the case. If past is prologue, I think Jack Smith will wait until he has a few wins with the 11th circuit on appeal before he files for Cannon’s removal.

Tune into the next episode of the Jack Podcast for more information. We will keep you posted!

~ AG