After extensive back-and-forth between special counsel Jack Smith and former President Donald Trump's legal team, Judge Aileen Cannon finally ordered the trial date in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case to be set for May 20 — later than the December date Smith argued for, but also a rejection of Trump's demand to delay the trial indefinitely.
But many legal experts have worried this might not be the end of it. Cannon, a Trump appointee who has faced controversy for legally indefensible rulings giving Trump preferential treatment, could simply be using this as a baseline to give Trump time to file more delay tactics, potentially pushing the trial back further or even past the 2024 election altogether.
But Smith has prepared for that scenario, argued former House impeachment counsel Norm Eisen on CNN Friday. He has another trick up his sleeve: namely, the January 6 investigation.
"We may have a former president here soon who will have more indictments than impeachments," said anchor Jim Acosta. "How will other cases fit into this? There's no formal coordination on timing, but you could see a scenario next year where Trump is literally bouncing from the courtroom to the campaign trail back and forth."
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First of all, Eisen said, "one trial that is extremely unlikely to slip is Judge Merchan in the Manhattan D.A. case. That's a firm date."
But also, he continued, "Jack Smith is a master chess player. He's been doing this for a very long time. So now with the target letter in the 2020 election interference case, in case all of you are right and that trial slips, what does Jack Smith do? He's going to file in D.C., a very favorable bench, great jury pool for him. Says, fine, Judge Cannon, you want to move that trial, we'll just slide in the 2020 election interference trial and we'll do that before the election."
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Norm Eisen says "master chess player" Jack Smith has a plan for Aileen Cannonwww.youtube.com
