Judge Cannon threatens to 'sanction' Jack Smith for lack of 'courtesy' to Trump's team

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied a request from special counsel Jack Smith to modify Donald Trump's bond conditions in his classified documents case.

In a motion last week, Smith asked Cannon to modify the conditions to clarify that Trump cannot endanger law enforcement officials investigating his case.

"The Government moves to modify defendant Donald J. Trump's conditions of release, to make clear that he may not make statements that pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case," Smith's motion said.

Smith said Trump made statements "falsely suggesting that [the agents] were complicit in a plot to assassinate him" — referring to claims that agents were authorized to use "deadly force" when they went to Mar-a-Lago looking for classified documents.

On Tuesday, Cannon denied the motion without prejudice "for lack of meaningful conferral" with the defense.

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"[T]he Court finds the Special Counsel's pro forma 'conferral' to be wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy. It should go without saying that meaningful conferral is not a perfunctory exercise. Sufficient time needs to be afforded to permit reasonable evaluation of the requested relief by opposing counsel and to allow for adequate follow-up discussion as necessary about the specific factual and legal basis underlying the motion," Cannon wrote.

"Any future, non-emergency motion brought in this case — whether on the topic of release conditions or anything else — shall not be filed absent meaningful, timely, and professional conferral," she warned. "Failure to comply with these requirements may result in sanctions."