It's too early to say how Judge Aileen Cannon will conduct herself in former President Donald Trump's criminal trial for illegally retaining top-secret government documents, but one former CIA lawyer thinks we'll have a big clue in due time.
In an interview with Vice News, former CIA Office of General Counsel attorney Brian Greer broke down some of the defenses that Trump's attorneys were likely to make, and he said Cannon's reaction to them would be immediately telling.
"Trump's team before long will probably file some motions to dismiss the indictment all together," Greer explained. "They may make their Presidential Records Act argument, they may make malicious prosecution arguments. They'll make their argument about the Special Counsel's appointment being unconstitutional. Those should all normally be easily rejected by the judge. But if she entertains those, obviously we’ll know she’s in the tank for Trump."
Greer also argued that Trump's best legal strategy is to try to delay the case as much as possible because "if he delays it past the election, and gets reelected, the case is over."
"He doesn't even have to worry about pardoning himself," Greer added. "His Attorney General will dismiss the case."
Despite all this, Greer does not see the trial of the former president getting off the ground until next June, and that's even if Judge Cannon doesn't grant Trump lawyers' more outlandish requests for further delays.
