Before indicting Donald Trump last year for allegedly mishandling classified documents, federal prosecutors had to decide where to bring the charges: Washington, DC, or Florida.

Before indicting Donald Trump last year for allegedly mishandling classified documents, federal prosecutors had to decide where to bring the charges: Washington, DC, or Florida.

Ultimately, they charged the former president in Florida, a decision that has proven to be a fateful one — underscored by the vastly different approaches taken by DC judges as compared to the federal judge now presiding over the criminal case in Florida.

Those approaches became apparent in the past week as opinions were unsealed from two DC federal judges indicating how much more quickly and harshly for Trump the case might have played out had it remained in Washington.

Bradley Moss, a DC-based lawyer with extensive national security experience, said that the ruling from Howell provided Cannon a “clear road map” to consider the attorney-client privilege issues.

But Cannon hasn’t even scheduled a hearing on the topic, which the parties began arguing over in court papers in February.

“That she continues to sit on the matter is inexcusable,” Moss said.

  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    611·
    5 months ago

    But the Justice Department moved the investigation to a Miami grand jury in its final few weeks before charging Trump in South Florida’s federal court because much of Trump’s allegedly criminal actions took place at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.

    Prosecutors have publicly disclosed little about the choice to move the case to Florida, though it has become a topic of discussion in the fights with the defense teams over secrecy, especially at a recent hearing before Cannon. “I can say that the investigation that was ongoing before the DC grand jury had – had adequate nexus to continue in Washington. I’m not prepared to comment on the date on which a decision to charge in Florida was made or what the internal deliberations were on that subject,” special counsel’s office prosecutor David Harbach told Cannon at a hearing last week.

    It was always a messy situation. Factors I’m sure Smith’s team considered in charging in FL:

    • They needed (under existing law) to charge Trump at the location that there was a nexus to the crime, but also needed personal jurisdiction or to extradite him for purposes of trial back to DC, which maybe they didn’t feel they could defend.
    • If Trump was charged in DC and Trump’s lawyers wanted to delay, initial motions to move the proceeding to Florida would have already caused delays.
    • Finally, because Smith certainly predicted Trump would claim the documents were declassified as part of official conduct, charging in the place where he lives now as a simple citizen (Florida) prevents Trump from exploiting the case location (DC) as evidence they are prosecuting conduct related to his presidency.

    They probably also thought the case was cut-and-dry enough that the location truly wouldn’t matter. But even so, they were not nearly cynical enough about Aileen Cannon and how badly it could go when she’s basically Trump’s pro bono counsel. Everyone who had seen Cannon’s earlier rulings and confirmation proceedings knew she has zero integrity and was going to throw the case for Trump.

    Like usual, it seems like nobody in official positions planned properly for what happens with an actual bad-faith actor in control.