Former Trump lawyer slams Judge Cannon for indefinitely postponing docs trial
Although Donald Trump's hush money/falsifying business records trial is moving along at a rapid pace — adult film star Stormy Daniels, former Trump White House adviser Hope Hicks and former National Enquirer Publisher David Pecker have already testified — it appears unlikely that any of the three other criminal indictments the former president is facing will go to trial before the November election.
Special counsel Jack Smith's election interference case is in limbo until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Trump's absolute immunity claims, and Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee — has indefinitely postponed the trial for the other Trump-related case Smith is prosecuting: the Mar-a-Lago documents indictment.
Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House lawyer who is now an outspoken Trump critic, expressed his frustration with Cannon during a Tuesday night, May 7 interview with CNN — telling host Erin Burnett that Cannon's postponement serves no useful purpose.
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Burnett noted that Cannon's ruling "all but guarantees" that the trial "is not going to happen before the election." And Cobb told the CNN host, "This is direct, this is clear. All she's really done today, though, is make official what everybody, including Jack Smith, already knew — which was: She had no intention of getting this case to trial, and she wasn't competent to get this case to trial."
Cobb went to say that Cannon has "ruled on only three of the 12 motions to dismiss, all of which could have been easily resolved by now."
Cobb told Burnett, "This is something that I think was always her objective, frankly — to prevent this from going to trial. But also, I think her inability, wholesale inability, to do it was made palpable."
When Burnett asked Cobb if Cannon was guilty of "bias" or "utter incompetence," he responded, "Well, I think I once said that to be fair to her, she may merely be incompetent. But no, this is a combination of bias and incompetence…. The things that she has done here are really inexplicable, and it's tragic…. She has not honored the public's interest for one day in this case, as she has sat in her office apparently paralyzed from ruling on easily resolvable motions."
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Cobb continued, "And sadly, this case will not go to trial, notwithstanding the fact that it's one of the most important cases in history and could have easily been tried in advance of the election."
When Burnett asked Cobb if Smith had "any recourse" on Cannon's decision to indefinitely postpone the trial, he replied, "I don't believe he does. Scheduling is an area where traditionally, judges have wide latitude. I don't think he would have the ability to get her removed on this or overruled on this."
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