Former President Donald Trump's enemies and critics were in an uproar this week in the wake of a judge's ruling that could heavily favor Trump at his trial.
The panic set in after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued what was described as a "bizarre" order by some legal experts pertaining to jury instructions for the end of the trial.
Trump's critics have long argued that Cannon has shown bias toward the former president, citing the fact that he appointed her to the bench during his time in the White House.
Now, they're attempting to make a case that she's actively assisting the president given the language in her most recent order.
On Monday, Judge Cannon issued an order to both sides of the legal battle to submit specific instructions for a trial jury in Trump's classified documents case.
CNN noted:
But – to the surprise and confusion of several legal experts on Monday – Cannon asked the attorneys in the case to consider how to incorporate into the trial the Presidential Records Act.
The outlet cited legal experts who consider the order "bizarre" for a number of reasons, one including that no trial date has been set, and another including the fact that the order signals that Trump's claim of being able to keep the records under the Presidential Records Act (PRA) could remain a central issue in the trial.
CNN added:
Cannon asked both the Justice Department and defense team to contemplate how a jury could be told to weigh the criminal law around national security records if Trump could say the PRA gave him authority to keep documents he chose.
Mainstream media outlets brought out all of the legal experts they could find to dissect what the judge is thinking with the unusual order, including Brad Moss, a national security lawyer.
"I don’t get what she’s doing with this. I don’t understand where she is going with this order," Moss told CNN. "It’s a bizarrely written set of questions that doesn’t lend itself to an easily understandable set of answers."
Cannon's order sparked instant feedback across social media, with many wondering if it could signal the demise of Special Counsel Jack Smith's case against the former president.
Reviewing my notes from last week's classified docs hearing to try to explain Judge Cannon's jury instruction motion filed yesterday.
Cannon repeatedly asked DOJ to identify the official, individual responsible for "authorizing" retention of national defense info. She drilled… pic.twitter.com/8HaZ0ezp8o
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) March 19, 2024
While most of the legal examinations are out of the scope of comprehension for most people, the bottom line is that Cannon's instructions have seemingly greatly upset Trump's enemies, which to Trump's supporters, is nothing less than great news.
Only time will tell how it all shakes out, but it looks like there's a little extra light at the end of the proverbial tunnel for Trump and his legal defense team -- at least for now.
