Aileen Cannon Unwound the Stolen Documents Prosecution Back to November 2022
There’s a detail of Judge Cannon’s order throwing out the stolen documents case that people seem to be missing.
She unwound the prosecution back to the time when Jack Smith took it over from when Jay Bratt had the lead.
Here, as in Lucia, the appropriate remedy is invalidation of the officer’s ultra vires acts. Since November 2022, Special Counsel Smith has been exercising “power that [he] did not lawfully possess.” Collins, 594 U.S. at 258. All actions that flowed from his defective appointment—including his seeking of the Superseding Indictment on which this proceeding currently hinges [ECF No. 85]—were unlawful exercises of executive power. Because Special Counsel Smith “cannot wield executive power except as Article II provides,” his “[a]ttempts to do so are void” and must be unwound. Id. at 283 (Gorsuch, J., concurring). Defendants advance this very argument: “any actions taken by Smith are ultra vires and the Superseding Indictment must be dismissed” [ECF No. 326 p. 9]. And the Court sees no alternative course to cure the unconstitutional problem.
There are a lot of people saying that DOJ can just charge the 18 USC 793 charges in SDFL or charge obstruction in either DC or SDFL.
But they can only do so relying on evidence obtained prior to Smith’s appointment. Some key things they got after that?
- Evan Corcoran’s testimony
- Yuscil Taveras’ cooperation
- Some, but not all, of the surveillance footage
- Testimony from Mark Meadows’ ghost writers, reflecting Trump’s knowledge that he had not declassified the Iran document
Probably, a simple obstruction charge limited to Trump’s refusal to respond to the subpoena might survive (though such a case would be stronger with Corcoran’s testimony). But there is no way they could charge the stolen documents case without recreating some of this investigation.
Update: Jack Smith has announced he will appeal.
How far back would it unwind the Hunter Biden investigation? You’ve mentioned on X the statute of limitation issues, but was there also any new evidence obtained after Weiss’ Aug 11 2023 appointment?
Well, the gun case would not be chargeable. They got a lot more evidence after August 11. For example, they had never gotten a warrant to access his digital data for gun crimes. They tested a pouch for cocaine afterwards.
On the tax case, we don’t yet know.
Can Cannon’s “unwinding” be appealed?
And the effect on Smirnov?
She must be on Trump’s VP short list.
No, she is looking for a promotion to the 11th Circuit or, in her most extended imagination, the Supreme Court.
My question though, is whether under the Supreme Court’s Trump immunity decision, it is could be shown beyond a reasonable doubt that she traded this dismissal for a promised promotion if elected to some other court, could that be treated as prosecutable bribery?
Nope*. It’s gonna be J.D. Vance, which is a hilariously bad choice, even for TFG.
*Aileen’s on the SCOTUS short list. But don’t worry — she’s “quirky!”
My take is that after the assassination attempt, with J.D. Vance laying the blame squarely on Biden and the Democrats for saying Trump should be defeated at all costs, and Trump trying to appear more moderate–at least for now–J.D. Vance is out.
Ha! I guess that shows how much my take is worth!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/15/jd-vance-trump-vice-president-announcement/
Can you please tell us your Kentucky Derby 150 pick now too?
Maybe now that JD has been officially picked, the definition of “out”
will now mean “out front”, as in JD can become the mouthpiece for all the accusatory BS and Trump will hang back. No, that’s impossible. Maybe for a few days. Or less.
Yep, Trump picked JD Vance, who is unparalleled in the art of kissing ass and sucking up.
No, she’s not eligible because she was born in Colombia.
Why even bother refiling it with a US attorney now? Clearly the right thing to do is appeal to the 11th. Marcy, you even said this is such a laughable judgement.
Would refiling give the DOJ another spin on the assigned-judge roulette wheel?
If there’s appeal re-11th ruling, SCOTUS can sit on it forever?
I suppose they could, but at this point, either Trump wins or he doesn’t. If Biden wins and SCOTUS sits on the appeal, then go ahead and refile with a US Attorney. Might as well get something into the record now.
So we now have Supremes who are the dictatorship as anything the legislative and executive want will have to be negotiated with them, so they can eg hold up the budget till they agree to spending, etc?
Don’t we also have the additional admissions and evidence of boxes and obstruction that were not part of the original case? IIRC, this case has been a trickle-truth fountain and not all of it has been charged yet.
Can Smith appeal the unwinding of the case too?
No doubt he will. And he’ll likely win at the 11th Circuit Court.
And we’ll have another chance to see SCOTUS in action as “the most partisan Court in US history!”
Any hope the case has of restarting depends on a Biden win.
At that point, I hope the Republicans would cut bait with Trump. He’d be a two-time loser and a criminal to boot. They’ve been bleeding moderates for years and there’s only so much lipstick you can put on a pig.
I was sure the Republicans would cut bait after Trump lost them the White House, the House, and the Senate. I was even surer after January 6. Nothin’ doin’. At this point they’re fully committed to this path – the elected positions include lots of true MAGAs at the local, state, and national levels, and the voter base literally tells pollsters they’d rather lose elections with Trump than win them without him.
That leaves aside the question of what “cut bait” even means – it seems to me that MAGA has become a movement that could exist without Trump.
JD Vance is the Veep pick. As bad as Convict-1 is politically, Vance is worse with fewer scruples. It remains to be seen if he’s as dissolute on a personal level
The only thing Vance is interested in is power. He showed that with his transformation from never-Trumper to Tucker Carlson’s favorite guest, simply so he could run for the Senate.
My guess is that the campaign wants to tap Peter Thiel’s money.
I look forward to the upcoming post, apologies for the OT trip.
Sounds like a good guess. It’s also a statement that Trump and Vance will do anything in exchange for the money – and the power they and their patrons hope it brings.
Here’s a THREAD by Brian Greer, Secrets and Laws, on ThreadReader:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1812877292903031040.html
11:50 AM · Jul 15, 2024
TY, harpie. I found this especially helpful on the “file in DC” option, which is not nearly as clearcut as some here seem to think–at least as presented in this thread, which matches my previous (albeit inexact) understanding.
I have read Greer’s analysis a few times.
He refers to the “conduct element” of espionage act offences, but then refers to the conduct element as “retention”.
However the conduct criminalised in 793e at issue is
“retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it”.
That is there are 2 conduct elements, both of which are continuing pieces of conduct. They are interrelated pieces of conduct, but the second piece is not subsumed within the first, because the second creates a series of obligations not covered by the first, and in doing so deprives the person in possession of the putative defence which would otherwise exist viz “I destroyed the document, and did not retain it”
The second is the breach of an obligation to deliver, ie ensure that the person authorised to receive it does indeed receive immediately, at the moment the person in possession comes into unauthorised possession or whose authority to possess it has terminated.
And the obligation to deliver to that person continues thereafter. The failure to effectuate delivery occurs where the person entitled to receive it is situated. Thus while the conduct relating to retention might begin when the person was in Florida, the conduct relating to failing to delver arises in DC.
Been off the Internet for months. Thought I’d check in here with you people because this is the only site on current events on the Internet I can read without puking. My Methodism is turning dark. How cruel Atlanta has become. This is a city that used to give shelter to its people. Now it’s all Fulton Industrial Blvd run by Hades. I’m not surprised to see this behavior from Cannon.
I’ve been working to get some people housed. One I started thinking it was just pushing Georgia ID and SS Card then SS disability and Medicaid, a huge and heavy lift, a woman diagnosed with psychotic illness who actually has a neurological disorder (Frelogi’s syndrome). Then a Dekalb Sportsbar where I played chess, I came to understand the Dekalb DA’s office had turned into a trap. A bunch of squatter friends of mine in an abandoned building next door to the club were going to be raided at 4AM, and the ones who weren’t informants were going to be doomed with huge charges. We worked to get them Squatter protection, and the police and informants in the building and club pulled the rightful postings down, subverting the hearing GA Law calls for. Eventually, their own violation of GA Law led a half dozen squad cars to come and scrape my flyers down and let the people out simply telling them to leave. That was an acceptable compromise, so the AJC and they avoided the wrath of the Buckhead family who build the complex (wonderful people) who did not want the epilogue of their family story to be this tragedy. The DA’s office were going to doom those folks with trauma and charges to turn them into “cooperators” to bring down the rich gang-bangers and rappers who go to the club.
Anyway, I am a Mayor of Little Five Points, emeritus, I suppose, and I’m 4-7 lifetime on getting people off the streets. I’m about to get to 6-7 so that’s okay. It’s a consequential position like a Jackass Jean Valjean. My models were the first Jimbo and a guy named Don who is a Methodist pastor. Anyway, you would not believe how much I’m worn out. I’m about to retire after putting myself in the hospital with stress cardiomyopathy and severe potassium deficiency last week, walking miles out in the heat. I thought I’d check in here, and, well, basically, exhort people not to put much stake in the election or this case. I think the situation is much worse than this or that election. Remember that Jesus harrowed Hell. Try to have faith and love in your heart and none of this will have power over you. Checking out again for a while. Don’t need the stress of reading this stuff. I’m alright. Much love.