Trump’s judge presses his lawyers on ‘shadow government’ claims during Jack Smith’s trial

After hundreds of complaints against her and a day after a report revealed she ignored other federal judges who urged her to recuse herself from the case, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon began the first of a three-day series of hearings into Donald Trump’s secret documents case.

Cannon indefinitely delayed the former president’s trial. So hearings in her Florida courtroom instead put special counsel Jack Smith under the microscope.

On Friday, Trump’s lawyers and his allies argued that Smith – who filed federal charges against the former president – was illegally appointed as a special counsel. Cannon, appointed to the judgeship by Trump, seemed somewhat skeptical of their far-sighted arguments, which join a long list of motions to dismiss the case.

But she also questioned whether Attorney General Merrick Garland had oversight of the case and took the unusual step of allowing non-Trump supporters to argue before her.

At the center of Friday’s arguments was Trump’s lawyers’ claim that Attorney General Merrick Garland does not have the legal authority to appoint a special counsel because they say Smith is a “principal official” who needs Senate approval.

Cannon seemed to doubt that argument, telling lawyers that judges in a similar case involving Robert Mueller conducted a “pretty comprehensive review.”

She also pressed Trump’s lawyers to explain what they meant when they said Smith’s position amounted to a “shadow government.”

“That sounds very ominous,” she said. “But what do you really mean?”

She asked whether this was “realistic” given the “strictly defined” rules on independent special prosecutors and whether it would be “unfair” to “cast suspicion in this direction”.

It’s not unusual for lawyers to throw everything they have at trying to get their clients’ charges dismissed, but judges rarely hold hearings on them – and almost never invite people uninvolved in the case to speak openly on the defendant’s behalf in court.

After adjourning the trial indefinitely, ensuring the former president would not be tried before Election Day, Judge Cannon instead blocked three days this month in a Fort Pierce courtroom to question Smith’s credibility and hear whether Trump should be barred from speaking and whether the evidence audio incriminating Trump should be rejected.

On Monday, Cannon will hear more from Trump’s lawyers, who say Smith was illegally funded.

It will also consider a request by prosecutors to restrict Trump from making any other provocative accusations related to the case, after Trump, his campaign and allies repeatedly falsely claimed the FBI intended to “assassinate” him as law enforcement officers searched his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump already has limited gag orders in place in a New York criminal money-hiding case and in a federal election interference case he unsuccessfully tried to prevent from taking effect.

On Tuesday, Cannon will hear more arguments from Trump’s lawyers seeking to block potential audio evidence, including recordings, that could be used as evidence of his alleged obstruction of justice in the case.

The former president was charged with 40 separate counts stemming from allegations that after leaving the White House for his private Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, he withheld hundreds of secret documents and then conspired to hinder the government’s efforts to recover them.

He pleaded not guilty.

His co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, accused of helping Trump mishandle documents at his Florida estate, also pleaded not guilty.