On Tuesday morning, May 28 — while Donald Trump's defense team was making its closing arguments in his hush money/falsified business records trial — some bombshell news in a separate Trump-related criminal case broke: Politico's Kyle Cheney reported that Judge Aileen Cannon had denied special counsel Jack Smith's request for a partial gag order in his Mar-a-Lago documents case.
Trump has faced limited gag orders in three other cases, including the one imposed by Judge Tanya Chutkan in Smith's election interference case. But Cannon, a Trump appointee, not only rejected Smith's request — she was also highly critical of the special counsel's team. Cannon attacked the request as "wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy" and said that Smith's prosecutors failed to have a "meaningful conferral" with Trump's defense.
Smith's gag order request followed a claim by Trump and some of his supporters that the FBI's search for classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 was an assassination attempt by President Joe Biden and other Democrats. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Trump claimed, had authorized the use of "lethal force" against him during that search — a claim that Attorney General Merrick Garland slammed as irresponsible and "extremely dangerous."
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X, formerly Twitter, has been full of reactions to Cannon's decision.
MediasTouch's Ron Filipkowski, a former federal prosecutor, tweeted, "Aileen Cannon is a menace."
Keith Boykin, co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition, commented, "Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon denies prosecutors' request for a gag order to stop Trump from lying about the search of Mar-A-Lago in the classified documents case. Prosecutors argue that Trump's lies have endangered law enforcement officers."
Producer/broadcaster Ed Berlin argued, "Without question a new low bar has been set for a judge being in the pocket of a wealthy benefactor as we witness Aileen Cannon's continued bias regarding the man who gave her a cushy job, Donald Trump."
READ MORE:Cannon denies Jack Smith’s gag order request for 'lack' of 'professional courtesy' to Trump’s team
Some Trump critics have been saying that if Cannon denied Smith's request, he would have a stronger argument for getting her removed from the case.
PoliticusUSA's Sarah Reese Jones posted, "Aileen Cannon became the first judge in a Trump case to reject a gag order request, and her ruling could result in her being booted off the classified documents case."
Journalist Jonathan Greenberg wrote, "The delay-till-dictator fix is in with Cannon! Smith needs to fight fascist fire with legal firepower! What can he do to bypass her corruption? Add to new espionage charges to indictment now to get evidence to public before election! Bust Trump's lies!"
Attorney Jeffrey Evan Gold wrote, "Nothing to do with the law, intent of the rules of procedure, or ethics. Prosecutors are not required to wait for the FBI to be bombed in retaliation for a fake assassination claim."
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