Trump Charged With 37 counts of Espionage, Obstruction and related crimes

[N.E. Brigand]

Or maybe he buried documents in Ivana Trump's grave (which is at the golf course) and the FBI is reluctant to exhume her?

Just a trivia note: the epicenter of today's earthquake in New Jersey was less than five miles from there.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Or maybe he buried documents in Ivana Trump's grave (which is at the golf course) and the FBI is reluctant to exhume her?

Just a trivia note: the epicenter of today's earthquake in New Jersey was less than five miles from there.

[RoseMorninStar]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

After arguing that a motion for recusal, although likely to fail ("this is all very depressing for people that want to see Trump held to account, but I'm just explaining how the world is; not how it should be") is probably Jack Smith's next move, Lee Kovarsky then endorsed an alternative that others have been floating: Jack Smith could "file a motion in limine to exclude any evidence about the PRA to kind of force Judge Cannon's hand."

Edited to note that among those making that suggestion are Bradley Moss and Andrew Weissmann.

Add to that list Roger Parloff (on the Lawfare Trump Trials podcast today) and me.

Also Allison Gill.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Judge Cannon finally ruled on the SCO's motion for reconsideration of her order requiring that they publicly reveal the names of witnesses and details about what they are expected to say. She largely granted the motion, while at the same time reaming the SCO and requiring a high standard from them to justify redactions. Most of those that I follow were typically critical of Judge Cannon (as usual), but I found Brad Moss' take on this very helpful. (Click on the tweet and read the whole thread, if you can.)

[N.E. Brigand]

CNN: "FBI interview transcript reveals how Trump aide characterized boxes at Mar-a-Lago to investigators."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

On April 10, 2024, Judge Cannon set a deadline of May 9, 2024, for Defendants to file Rule 16 expert disclosures and any defense CIPA Section 5(a) written notice based on classified discovery produced to date. Needless to say, Judge Cannon was well aware that Trump's New York trial was beginning five days later and was scheduled to last well beyond May 9. Nonetheless, Trump filed a motion to adjourn those deadlines until 3 weeks after the New York trial ended. The SCO promptly filed a scathing opposition to that motion.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents ... dj-request

The motion concludes with this statement:

Each time the Court sets a new deadline in this case and attempts to keep it moving toward
trial, the defendants reflexively ask for an adjournment. That must stop. The Court should deny
defendants’ motions to continue the May 9 expert witness disclosure and CIPA Section 5 notice
deadlines.

If Cannon grants this motion, I think they have no choice but to try to get her recused, even if it is a longshot.

[N.E. Brigand]

A witness in this case testified in a deposition that Walt Nauta was told that Donald Trump would pardon him once he's again president.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

There is a huge trowel of information that has been revealed now that Trump's motion to compel discovery and the hundreds of pages of exhibits have been docketed in a heavily redacted form. That motion was filed on January 16 and the opposition was filed on February 2, and Cannon still has not ruled.

[N.E. Brigand]

ABC News has new reporting on how Donald Trump handled classified information as president, based on various sources who apparently have testified in Jack Smith's investigation. Trump has been charged for what he did as a former president, because as president he had an almost unfettered power to release classified material, but some associates were "appalled" by his treatment of these documents. The article also reports on staff testimony that Trump was only interested in intelligence reports on select countries -- for instance, he apparently didn't want to be bothered with news on Latin America -- and that he was oddly resistant to other intelligence: "Trump refused to listen to certain briefings related to Russia .... [and] 'absolutely' didn't want to hear about Russian influence operations, and he couldn't be convinced that Russian troops were already operating inside Ukraine -- even as his own administration was publicly calling out their routine incursions into the country's eastern region to support Russian-backed separatists.