Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, while being interviewed on MSNBC's "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell on Wednesday, argued that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon could gift special counsel Jack Smith an issue to appeal depending on her actions.
In particular, Weissmann detailed the delicate dance Cannon must do in protecting national secrets.
"If she screws this up, to be blunt, this is the kind of issue that I would imagine the government would take an appeal so that they could have the 11th circuit hear it," Weissmann said.
A Wednesday hearing featured only Smith's team and a court reporter. It lasted about three hours, according to MSNBC's legal contributor Katie Phang.
Weissmann explained why the Trump defense team wasn't present.
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"This is a way for the judge to hear from the government about what proposed redactions or summaries they are planning to use," he said. "By definition you do not have the defense there, because if you have the defense there, the whole point is to keep the classified information classified and away from people who do not have classification approval."
Weissmann outlined other ways the government might be preparing their appeal, such as if Judge Cannon delayed the proceedings indefinitely. If that happens, he said, "then the government has to decide at what point are they going to try to do something."
Another possibility to bring appeal for Smith would be if the judge decides to share sensitive information with Trump's lawyers.
"That's something they could appeal prior to that going to the defense," he said.
Another cause for appeal would be if Cannon were to override the government's requests for redactions to protect the integrity of the intelligence.
Weissmann noted, if the documents contained "nuclear secrets" or "military plans" then "that is the kind of data that you of course the government would be saying 'I do not want that to be revealed.'"
