Judge Cannon may help Trump by sabotaging D.C. elections trial date: ex-prosecutor

Right-wing District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, may be planning to maneuver not simply to slow-walk the trial, but to help Trump manipulate the calendar to box out any chance of special counsel Jack Smith's other case, alleging election subversion, from being prosecuted before the 2024 election, former prosecutor Elie Honig suggested on CNN Thursday.

This comes a day after the Supreme Court agreed to review the former president's claim to be immune from prosecution in the election case, which makes it significantly harder to set a trial date before the election on its own.

"Elie, as far as it comes to the classified documents case, I think it's good to have a refresher because we haven't been talking about it as frequently," said anchor Kaitlan Collins. "But what are you going to be watching for because this judge, specifically we know is operating very differently than the judge in Washington has been."

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"I'm looking for the moving chess pieces here, because I think a strategy — and we've had reporting to this effect — that Donald Trump's team is going to use here is to try to move the Mar-a-Lago trial so that it blocks any possibility of the Washington, D.C. trial making it onto the calendar before the election," said Honig. "Here's what I mean. The current date for the Mar-a-Lago trial is like May 20. If they can get that pushed back to, let's say July, now you're looking at the Florida, the Mar-a-Lago case blocking July, August, September. That just leaves nowhere for Jack Smith's other case, the D.C. case, to go. So I'm going to be looking to see how the parties are trying to manipulate, push, pull that trial date."

"But do they not fear the classified documents case?" asked Collins. "I mean, if they're happy to have that one go forward, does that mean they feel like that one is more winnable for them?"

"If that's the strategy, then yes, that's what it tells you, and I'm trying to think about this," said Honig. "If I was Donald Trump's defense lawyer, hypothetically, the way I would look at it is the stronger evidence ... against my hypothetical client is in the Florida case, the documents case. It's easier for a jury to understand he had classified documents, he shouldn't have had them. He didn't give them back. He obstructed justice. It's a neater fit with the law. The D.C. case, the January 6 case, is more complicated and a little bit of a messier fit. But your jury pool, if you're Donald Trump's team is so much better in Florida. I mean, Donald Trump won Florida, even if you're drawing a jury only from the southern counties, he got 40, 45 percent. You're going to have a way better jury pool. And let me tell you something. If I had a choice between good facts or a good jury — I've practiced in front of enough juries — give me the jury every time."

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