Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors took a humiliating loss last week in their pursuit of former President Donald Trump regarding the classified documents case.
According to the Washington Examiner, Smith's office requested a mid-December deadline for Trump's legal team to reveal which classified documents they'll be using for evidence in the upcoming trial.
Smith's office is pushing for a trial sooner than later, and the December deadline, which most say is unrealistic anyway, would only serve to speed up the trial to get it going before the next election.
Many believe that's the reason for the rush.
Judge Aileen Cannon REJECTS Jack Smith's attempt to railroad Former President Donald Trump.
The left has it's panties in a bunch over this.
"Waaaaaa, we want the 11th Circuit to step in."
Give me a break. There were no "Classified" Docs at Mar-a-Lago.https://t.co/x3qY8qdtMI
— GaltiFACT® (@reardongalt) November 16, 2023
But in Smith's attempt to convince the judge that there should be a December deadline, he was put in his place and took a major loss by Judge Aileen Cannon, who stated that now, she won't even consider deadlines until a March 1 hearing.
The Examiner explained why the process overall is so complex, given that the trial deals almost exclusively with classified documents.
The deadlines include requirements parties in the case need to meet under the Classified Information Procedures Act. Cannon's decision on Thursday, related to Section 5 of CIPA, confirmed that anything in the CIPA process beginning with Section 5 will not occur until after the scheduling conference, leaving what is expected to be months of back-and-forth filings that would run into the trial if the date of it remained intact.
Defendants are required to provide notice regarding which pieces of classified evidence they'll use in a trial. Trump's team has argued that it will need much more time to do that.
Trump's legal team was presented with a staggering 5,500 pieces of classified evidence that they will have to go through and choose which ones will be used in defense of the former president, which will take significant time and resources.
Smith's prosecutors insisted that the deadline be set at Dec. 18, arguing, "Providing such notice by a set, near-term date will facilitate the completion of CIPA litigation before the May 20, 2024 trial date."
Trump is already facing potentially multiple trials during the 2024 election season.
Special counsel #JackSmith’s request to set a new deadline for former President Donald #Trump’s lawyers to alert the government of classified information they want to present during an upcoming trial has been turned down by a federal judge. https://t.co/NvyV9eaq8I
— NTD News (@NTDNews) November 17, 2023
Though Trump faces an insane amount of legal hurdles over the coming year, it hasn't seemed to have any measurable effect on his polling numbers, as he continues to maintain a dominating position against his opponents.
He has also bested President Joe Biden in several national and state-level polls in recent weeks, causing great concern for Democrats who are increasingly leery about Biden's actual ability to win next year.
