Jack Smith had 'thin-skinned' Judge Cannon 'dead to rights': ex-prosecutor​

Special Counsel Jack Smith's efforts to shield government witness identities forced U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon shift course and as a result "overrule herself."

The 24-page order filed on Tuesday demonstrates how Smith's team is clashing with former president Donald Trump's lawyers over the amount of exposure witnesses and their statements can be released in the discovery phase of trial.

Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman thinks the response proves Smith had the upper hand legally.

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"They had her dead to rights," Litman said. "And she could have just graciously said 'Oops my bad!' but she didn't."

"So it's very defensive and thin-skinned, but it does force [Cannon] to do the right thing and change the tune and it's important we're in the discovery stage now so it would be premature to issue these names she says as as has become her mantra of late."

The document Litman is referring to, has Cannon refusing to categorically block witness statements from being disclosed, writing that there was no basis for such a “sweeping” and “blanket” restriction in the pretrial motions.

Ruling to protect the names, Cannon still held reservations, writing, “Although the record is clear that the Special Counsel could have, and should have, raised its current arguments previously, the Court elects, upon a full review of those newly raised arguments, to reconsider its prior Order.”

Nonetheless, Litman says the judge "grants the motion for reconsideration and overrules herself."

The move to unveil the witness identities or keep them protected was one of many issues in Cannon's pile, in a case where there isn't a trial date on the calendar as yet.

Litman is convinced that Cannon, a Trump appointee, had been swayed by Trump's defense team to weigh too heavily the option of outing the names of witnesses without thinking about the ramifications.

"The Trump team basically snookered her into applying the totally wrong legal standard and therefore granting
their motion to release information to the public at this discovery stage," he said.

By reversing course, Cannon likely dodged a showdown with Smith having already called his privacy requests in a separate order “fundamentally flawed.”

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