Jack Smith 'visibly shocked' as Aileen Cannon doubles down on order he calls 'clear error'

Judge Aileen Cannon expressed skepticism in court Friday when special counsel Jack Smith's legal team argued against a ruling they've described as a potentially dangerous blunder.

Cannon presided over a federal court conference in Fort Pierce, Florida, to discuss her order, challenged by Smith, to unseal sensitive materials in former President Donald Trump's classified document case, Lawfare's Anna Bower reports.

"No decision from the bench," Bower wrote on X. "But Cannon sounded skeptical of prosecutors’ claims that she clearly erred."

"Clear error" are the words Smith used in a filing early last month to describe Cannon's decision on handling discovery in a case that could involve more than 5,000 pages of classified documents.

Smith argued Cannon's ruling — ordering unredacted documents to appear on the public docket — not only defied an 11th Circuit Court precedent, but put people's safety at risk.

As evidence, Smith pointed to the onslaught of threats that have slammed court officials involved in cases involving Trump.

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"[The ruling] would disclose the identities of numerous potential witnesses, along with the substance of the statements they made to the FBI or the grand jury," Smith wrote, "exposing them to significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation, and harassment, as has already happened to witnesses, law enforcement agents, judicial officers, and Department of Justice employees whose identities have been disclosed in cases in which defendant Trump is involved."

New York Judge Arthur Engoron, who issued Trump's $450 million penalty; the Colorado Supreme Court, which moved to strike Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot under the 14th Amendment's insurrectionist ban; and District of Columbia federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, overseeing Trump's federal election interference case, have all been subjected to violent death threats.

On Friday, ABC News' Katherine Faulders reported that Cannon questioned Smith's team about the witness list that could be unsealed — and was met by surprise from Smith and a request to reconsider from prosecutor David Harbach.

"Cannon asked the special counsel when they would be willing to publish the witness list," Faulders wrote on X. "Smith looked visibly shocked by the prospect of that list becoming public."