Judge Aileen Cannon's latest order in Donald Trump's criminal classified documents case boggles the mind, according to a MSNBC legal analyst Friday.
Cannon, who has been accused of being biased in favor of the former president and has in fact been reversed by an appeals court for an over-the-top order she made during the investigation phase of the documents case, earlier on Friday paused an order that would disclose witness details to the public following a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Later in the day, however, Cannon ordered Smith to deliver the witness details to defendants, including Trump himself.
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The court filing says there's an "insufficient basis" to "deviate from the adversarial process in this instance."
The filing was also picked up by legal analyst and MSNBC host Katie Phang, who said, "In the MAL case, Judge Cannon has entered the following order wherein she keeps a Government exhibit sealed, for now, but orders Special Counsel, Jack Smith, to turn it over to Defendants Trump, Nauta, and De Oliveira on or before February 10th."
That filing was also noticed by former litigator Lisa Rubin, who said Friday, "Especially given the existence of that other investigation, you might therefore understand why the Special Counsel's office does not want that information shared with anyone, let alone Trump's counsel."
"But today, having reviewed the document at issue, Cannon ordered Smith's team to hand it over to Team Trump, finding an 'insufficient basis to deviate from the adversarial process,'" Rubin added.
She continued:
"If information about an ongoing federal investigation into threats to a prosecution witness is not worthy of an ex parte, under seal filing, I don't know what is."
Finally, Rubin said, "And the fact that this latest directive forcing disclosure was made in the context of Smith's motion for Cannon's reconsideration of two more extensive orders also forcing premature disclosure of investigative details and witness identities is mind boggling."
