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'Smith gets results!' Expert says Judge Cannon 'took to heart' prosecutor's brief

The same week that special counsel Jack Smith filed a blistering motion in court ordering right-wing Judge Aileen Cannon to rule one way or the other on former President Donald Trump's use of the Presidential Records Act as a defense in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, she issued a ruling that denies Trump's bid to dismiss the case on those grounds.

It's a victory for Smith, and a sign that Cannon was stung by the criticism of how she ran her courtroom, former federal prosecutor Harry Litman told CNN's Boris Sanchez — but it's not a complete victory, and Cannon has still left open the possibility of giving the jury instructions that would torpedo the case, which means Smith could still seek her removal, as he has subtly threatened to do.

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Trump's trial delay argument failed because he delayed making it: legal expert

Former President Donald Trump's last-ditch effort to delay his hush money trial failed for an ironic reason pointed out by a legal expert on Wednesday: Trump delayed.

CNN analyst Norm Eisen appeared on "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" to discuss Judge Juan Merchan's ruling against Trump's plea to push the trial date back until after the Supreme Court ruled on a presidential immunity claim made in his election interference case.

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Trump co-defendant attacks Fani Willis on race: 'Black women tried to control men by fear'

Harrison Floyd, a former director of Black Voices for Trump, blasted Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for trying to "control men by fear" by charging him with a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Floyd made the remarks during the Doug in Exile podcast on Thursday. The host asked Donald Trump's co-defendant how race came into play in the case.

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GOP governor wants athletes stripped of scholarships if they skip national anthem

Republican Governor Jeff Landry has been hammering Louisiana State University's women's basketball team and their controversial coach, Kim Mulkey, for not being on the court when the national anthem played before their game against Iowa.

Now, the MAGA Louisiana governor is asking universities for a policy that "mandates" college athletes be "present" when the national anthem plays, or risk having their scholarships stripped.

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'All my money': Mike Lindell suggests he's blown $20M on election crusade

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell claimed that his financial difficulties are all related to his crusade to prove the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

During a Thursday interview with radio host John Fredericks, Lindell downplayed his recent eviction from a Minnesota warehouse — and blamed a sugar beets company that had subleased the spot.

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Trump has one stall tactic left in hush money trial — but it's a 'long shot': CNN expert

Former President Donald Trump saw his "presidential immunity" argument that tied up the federal January 6 case soundly rejected by New York Judge Juan Merchan in the Manhattan hush money case, partly due to most of the alleged criminal conduct taking place when he wasn't even president, and partly due to failing to raise the issue in a timely procedural fashion.

Trump's only delay tactic left might be to try to ask a federal court to step in, suggested former federal prosecutor Elie Honig on CNN Thursday — but he'd be relying on a "long shot" argument that has already come up in federal court and already failed.

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'One member of Congress can cause so much chaos': CNN host flabergasted by MTG stunts

CNN's Sara Sidner was blown away by the extent to which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is derailing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in his plans to bring a vote on Ukraine funding in the House.

Greene, who categorically opposes any assistance to Ukraine, has called Johnson "a damn fool and a liar," threatened to call a vote to expel him from leadership, and is even insinuating he's being blackmailed.

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'Really smart' Jack Smith filing is 'baiting' Aileen Cannon into making a critical mistake

CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams argued on Thursday that special counsel Jack Smith had painted Judge Aileen Cannon into a corner by forcing her to make an appealable ruling about proposed jury instructions before actually empaneling a jury in the Trump Mar-a-Lago documents trial.

Williams' remarks came in reaction to former Trump lawyer Ty Cobb arguing that Cannon had done enough to justify getting removed from the case all together given her rulings that critics have repeatedly called overly deferential to the former president.

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Trump has run out of trial delays because 'Judge Merchan has had it': former prosecutor

Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" On Thursday, former Department of Justice prosecutor Andrew Weissmann put Donald Trump on notice that jury selection in his Manhattan hush money trial will likely remain as scheduled despite all of the former president's attempts to delay the proceedings.

Speaking with the co-host, Weissmann was asked if jury selection would commence on April 15th as scheduled by Judge Juan Merchan after Trump and his lawyers demanded his recusal and also complained about pre-trial publicity tainting the jury pool.

"All signs are that Judge Merchan has had it," the former prosecutor explained. "All of the scheduled motions were supposed to be in weeks if not months ago. All of the efforts you're seeing at the last minute by the former president to delay this trial have been rejected."

ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why keeping Trump from the White House is all that matters

"As you said, there is now this pending motion about delaying the case because of pretrial publicity — that is going nowhere fast," he added. "You know, everyone on both sides agrees that pretrial publicity is going to continue and not abate at any time, so that's not a reason to put the trial off, it's a reason to make sure you're careful with jury selection to make sure you can find 12 jurors who are going to be fair and impartial and put aside whatever feelings they have about the case and decide just based on the facts."

"But we are now 11 days away, and you know, knock on wood, I think there are no more delays that are going to happen. We're going to see jury selection begin a week from Monday," he predicted.

Watch below or at the link.

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'Cowardice' or 'personal meltdown'? CNN panel speculates on Aileen Cannon's state of mind

A CNN panel on Thursday appeared baffled by Judge Aileen Cannon's actions in the Trump classified documents trial and speculated about the motives for her rulings.

After briefly discussing Cannon's widely criticized proposed jury instructions, in which jurors would be asked to consider whether top-secret government documents could be deemed Trump's personal property, Republican consultant Shermichael Singleton couldn't help but acknowledge that her decisions seem wildly favorable to the former president.

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Jack Smith called Aileen Cannon's bluff as 'the clock is ticking': legal analyst

The judge in Donald Trump's classified documents case is trying to "insulate" the former president — and Special Counsel Jack Smith is calling her bluff, according to former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance.

Vance lasered in on the legal tit-for-tat between U.S. Judge Aileen Cannon and Smith over the proposed jury instructions that Cannon floated in which jurors would be asked to consider whether the top-secret government documents that Trump took from the White House, which included secrets about nuclear weapons programs, could be considered his personal property.

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'Pernicious': Legal experts explain how Trump is testing the limits of his gag order

A newly strengthened gag order prevents former President Donald Trump from disparaging court staff, jurors, witnesses, and now family of the judge and prosecutor.

But Trump may have found a loophole around it and former prosecutor Lisa Rubin is disgusted.

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Judge Cannon plans more 'mischief' in Trump case if Jack Smith doesn't stop her: expert

Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman used his Wednesday evening appearance on MSNBC to lay into right-wing Judge Aileen Cannon's latest behavior in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case — and explain how special counsel Jack Smith, too, has grown fed up.

Cannon, who has intervened in the case in former President Donald Trump's favor multiple times and is herself a Trump appointee, has moved to propose the jury consider Trump's baseless claims to be shielded from prosecution for hoarding classified documents by the Presidential Records Act — while refusing to resolve the issue herself, in a way that could let her shut down the whole trial later. Smith has responded with a not-so-subtle threat to go over her head to the 11th Circuit and ask that they intervene.

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