Judge Cannon has a new way to hobble Mar-a-Lago documents case: ex-prosecutor

Judge Aileen Cannon could hamstring special counsel Jack Smith's case against Donald Trump by unilaterally disqualifying loads of evidence.

The U.S. District Court judge has raised eyebrows over her oversight of the case with rulings that seem to favor the ex-president who appointed her, and a former prosecutor said she could stack the deck against prosecutors by blocking them from using evidence contained in grand jury investigation files transferred from Washington, D.C., to the Florida classified documents case, reported Newsweek.

"Because the case wasn't going to be prosecuted in D.C.," said former prosecutor Bill Shipley, "the rulings made as part of the grand jury investigation are not binding on Cannon."

A grand jury in Washington heard evidence last year from witnesses, including Trump attorney Evan Corcoran, in a separate investigation into the former president's handling of classified materials, and Cannon is not bound by rulings in the District of Columbia and could decide to exclude his grand jury testimony if she believes it violated attorney-client privilege.

Corcoran was compelled to testify March 24, 2023, for a second time in the case because he wrote a letter to the Department of Justice in June 2022 stating there had been a "diligent search" for classified documents and sent along more than 30 documents with classified markings found on Trump's property.

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Cannon could prevent prosecutors from using that evidence, Shipley said, if she decides it was "obtained in an improper manner."

The court order transferring the evidence to Cannon's control also allows her to publicly release some of the materials if she believes that's in the public interest, and Smith proposed only redactions, and not complete retention, of the grand jury documents, which suggests they will likely be released.

Trump has been indicted on 40 federal felony charges related to his handling of those sensitive material found during FBI searches of his Mar-a-Lago private resort in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving office.